


Thank You For Calling the Sanders Sides Support Center

by DavidtheTraveler



Category: David the Traveler - Fandom, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Multiverse, See Beginning Notes for Trigger and Squick Warnings, See End Notes for Universes Referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-06-24 13:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DavidtheTraveler/pseuds/DavidtheTraveler
Summary: Are you hurting?  Do you feel like your efforts to help Thomas are fruitless or unappreciated?  Is your relationship with one or more of the other sides causing you duress?  Are you considering something drastic to try and ease the pain?Do not despair.  There is always hope.  If you need help, give us a call at 1-989-424-CALM.  Operators are always available.At the Sanders Sides Support Center.





	1. Revelations (or) A Cure for “Insanity”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -Mental Institutions  
> -Insanity  
> -Mentions of Suicide  
> -Voices in your Head  
> -Corruption of Self  
> -Mild Body Horror  
> -Medical Examination  
> -Mentions of Torture  
> -Depictions of Violence  
> -Deceit  
>   
> Squick Warnings  
> -Pairings:  
> \--Prinxiety  
> \--Implied Logicality

Inspired by “[Insanity Sides!](https://archiveofourown.org/series/925992)” by [Vampirtulpe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampirtulpe/pseuds/Vampirtulpe)

 

“So are we just exploring today?”

“Yes. Yes we are.”

“Okay. Why?”

David chuckled at Thomas’ question. “Because sometimes it’s nice to take a day and just relax.”

Thomas was still confused, but nodded in response as David led him and his sides through the expanse of universes.

It had been a few months since David, Thomas’ new roommate, had revealed that he was a transdimensional being, an individual with the power to travel to other universes and even manipulate reality in said universes. And while that had been easy enough to deal with, the revelation that Thomas was also such a being had taken a little longer to come to terms with. Luckily, a few months of training for both himself and his sides, and the recent bout with…”him”, had allowed them to fully accept their abilities and begin to help David with his mission to protect the cosmos from falling out of balance.

But today David had decided to simply examine other universes instead of actively interacting with any. There were no missions waiting for them and Thomas, Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil had already worked themselves to the bone learning when and how to use their abilities in other worlds. It seemed like the best idea was to make an easy day of it.

Thomas, however, felt a little restless. And Virgil was getting the brunt of it, which made him feel the need to speak up.

“I mean, it’s nice to have a day off, but what if something comes up? What if something happens while we’re taking a day off? What if…”

He trailed off as David turned around, grabbing his shoulders to steady him as he eyed him with a piercing yet kind look.

“It’s okay, Virgil. We’ll know if anything comes up that we need to deal with. You don’t need to worry about the what-ifs. Today is all about letting us rest. I know you like to be prepared, but let me worry about that for right now, okay?”

Virgil hesitated, but then nodded his head, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. David smiled back and squeezed his shoulders before letting go and moving ahead again. Thomas and Roman flashed encouraging smiles at him before turning to follow, and Logan nodded his head before doing so as well. Patton however grabbed his hand before dragging him behind, and while Virgil pretended to be annoyed by it, he was secretly thankful for how much the others cared about him.

“So, is there a specific type of alternate universe that we will be perusing today, or are we just observing a random hodge-podge of realities?” Logan asked.

“Actually, I thought it would be nice to look at alternate versions of you guys,” David replied. “I’ve been doing some research, and have discovered that there are alternate versions of you guys in almost every universe in existence.”

“Ooh, that sounds so fun!” Patton shouted.

“It would be quite interesting to see what might have occurred had circumstances been different in our lives,” Logan acquiesced.

“A grand idea for a quest,” Roman extoled. “I cannot wait to see what grand adventures my counterparts are partaking in.”

“It does sound quite exciting, don’t you think, Virgil?” Thomas asked as he fell back to float next to his anxious side.

Virgil simply shrugged his shoulders, but Thomas could tell by the way his eyes were lit up that he was just as interested as the rest of them.

For the next several hours, David took them around from universe to universe, looking in to see what life was like for their alternate selves. There were a number of worlds where the sides where their own people, living human lives. And there was quite an array of those, from medieval realms, to cities protected by superheroes, to foster families of all shapes and sizes.

Yet there were just as many worlds where they were still a part of Thomas, and there was still such a variety of ways that had turned out. There were worlds where they were guardian spirits, worlds where Deceit, Thomas’ lying and manipulative dark side, was a helper instead of a hindrance, and even worlds where the different sides had different roles.

Yet despite all the joy that existed, there was also a great deal of pain for their counterparts.

For every world where a happy family was formed, there was a family broken apart by betrayal. For every heroic victory, there was a devastating defeat. For every life saved from destruction, there was a life taken out of pain or guilt or fear or remorse, and so many were self-inflicted.

“Is it just me, or do a lot of our alternate selves seem to go through a lot of troubles?” Patton asked tentatively, tears starting to leak from his eyes.

“You would not be wrong to assume that,” Logan conceded, trying to hide the concern he was feeling for their counterparts.

Virgil and Roman chose not to speak. The pain they’d seen each other’s and their own alternates in had left them feeling guilty, despite knowing that they hadn’t actually been as cruel to each other as their parallels had been. They would briefly glance at each other but never for very long, too emotional to actually speak to the other.

Thomas was perhaps worst hit. To see his sides feeling such hurt and pain made his heart ache, even if he knew it wasn’t actually _his_ sides. He couldn’t keep the tears from pooling, and David felt a surge of guilt every time he saw one leak down his face.

“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” David finally said, moving to take Thomas’ hand to comfort him. “I’m sorry, I should have checked before bringing you all to see this.”

“No, it’s okay,” Thomas tried to reassure him, squeezing his hand as he moved toward another universe. “It’s just hard to think that if things had turned out differently, we could have ended up in the same situations these Thomases and Sides are in. I mean, look at this one.”

Thomas pulled the universe he’d moved toward closer, allowing the other five to see into it, where another Thomas was sitting in the corner of a padded room, wearing a straitjacket and looking as though he’d been there for some time.

“That could be me. And it kind of is, but it’s not. And that makes me want to help him even more.”

He paused, continuing to stare longingly at the image.

“But I know that I can’t. I know there are rules. I know that we can’t just fix everything.

“But it still hurts.”

David pulled his arm up to reach around his shoulders. The sides moved in closer, varying looks of pain on their own faces.

“I know it hurts, believe me. But the rules are quite clear. We can do nothing to a world without being sent or asked.”

Thomas leaned in closer to David, his tears preparing to drip down his cheeks. As they continued to observe, a tall doctor with long hair entered the chamber and began to speak to the Thomas within.

“ _Thomas? I’m not sure you can hear me, but I promise that everything is going to be okay. I’m here to help you._ ”

“Wait,” Virgil suddenly spoke up, “why does that doctor sound so familiar?”

“He does,” Roman agreed, sounding surprised. “Who is he?”

Logan reached forward and adjusted the image to allow them to see the doctor’s face. There was a moment of silence before Patton broke it.

“Um, is it just me, or does that doctor look an awful lot like David?”

The other four looked between David, who was squinting at the image in confusion, and the doctor within. Suddenly David’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“Oh, I thought this world seemed familiar.”

The others were shocked. Logan finally spoke, his voice suppressed with anger.

“I thought you said that you’d never interfered with any of our alternate selves.”

“I hadn’t…when you asked me in the observatory.”

Logan looked incredulously at him. David’s face fell slightly.

“However, there may have been a moment a few nights after that when my presence was needed.”

“And why did you not inform us of this afterward?” Logan continued, his voice rising. “Surely you would have realized that we would like to know if our counterparts had interacted with you at some point.”

David looked sheepish, but continued to explain.

“To be honest, I didn’t want to worry you guys until you were ready to deal with the full implications of what went down in that world, uh, this world, I mean.”

That gave Logan pause, and the others exchanged worried looks before Roman finally addressed him.

“What do you mean?”

David hesitated a moment before responding.

“It is true that I was not summoned, nor was I sent to this world. But I still had good reason to intercede. This version of you was under attack by a particularly malicious Embodiment of Insanity.”

The name alone was enough to send chills down their spines. But they still didn’t understand, so Thomas asked for clarification.

“A what?”

David closed his eyes before steeling himself for the explanation.

“An Embodiment is a particular type of transdimensional being. Embodiments dedicate their lives to spreading a particular mental or emotional state to every world they can. Some can be helpful. I myself spent a fair amount of time as an Embodiment of Peace and Balance. I gave up the title when I realized it was holding me back from doing everything I could to protect the cosmos.

“But while I strove to be a force for good when I was an Embodiment, most such individuals are usually much less benevolent. Case in point, this particular being.”

David waved his free hand, changing the image of Thomas and himself in the cell to that of a dark figure, apparently made of black ink.

“I still don’t know who it once was or where it came from, but its actions made those matters irrelevant. By the time I found it here, it was past the point of redemption.”

“How did you find it here?” Logan asked. His anger had mostly dissipated, and he was resolved to understand all he could about a new potential threat they might need to address in future.

“When we were in the observatory, I detected an unusual reading from one of the universes. The night after the party, when you decided to have a normal night, I did a scan, and discovered evidence of transdimensional travel, leading me to this parallel Thomas, and the demon inside him. I believe when it came to this world, it discovered this version of Thomas to be not only a person with a great potential for influence, but also with a most uniquely powerful mentality. In other words, it sensed his Sides.”

Thomas felt the fear mounting inside him, and turned to look at the others. Logan was holding a shaking Patton in his arms, a hint of fear on his face indicating his own terror. Virgil had instinctually curled into Roman’s side, and while he would surely deny it later, he seemed comforted by the fanciful side’s arm rubbing circles in his back. Thomas turned back to David as he continued.

“After observing for a while, I figured out that this creature was trying to completely break down Thomas’ sides, to the point where they would completely give in to its will. But at least one of them was still fighting its influence. But I could also tell that they wouldn’t be able to hold out forever, so I decided to step in....”

 

***********************

 

“Thank you for coming, doctor. We’ve had absolutely no success in trying to help him. Despite all our best efforts, he’s been completely unresponsive to every form of treatment we have at our disposal.”

The nurse continued to explain as she led the tall figure in a lab coat through the halls of the mental hospital. He listened intently, hoping that they might have found something that would confirm his suspicions and indicate his best course of action. But if he was being truthful, he seriously doubted that they would have found anything he hadn’t already figured out.

“How long has he been in this state?” he inquired.

“About a year now,” she replied.

“And there were no indications before he was brought in of possible mental issues?”

“There was nothing on his file, but when we interviewed his close friends, they seemed to be withholding information from us. We decided not to pursue it, hoping that we could deduce the problem ourselves, but once it became apparent that we were unequipped, we sent for you and arranged for his friends to meet you here.”

The doctor nodded as she stopped and opened a door to a small sitting area. Inside were two people, huddled together and whispering. As soon as he stepped through, the individuals stopped talking and looked up at him apprehensively.

“These are Joan and Talyn, Thomas’ closest friends. They’ve come to visit him at least once a week since he came under our care.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” the doctor said, holding his hand out, though neither took it. He put it down before continuing, “I’m Dr. Braxton, but you can call me David.”

David turned back to the nurse.

“I’ll take it from here. I know where to find his room once I’m done with them.”

The nurse nodded swiftly before shutting the door behind her.

David carefully moved closer to the huddled couple. For a moment, they seemed terrified that he would do something untoward, but that fear dissipated when he simply reached up and unplugged the camera they had been sitting beneath.

“Sorry, about that,” he began, going to sit in a chair opposite them, “but I don’t like having my private sessions recorded, even if it is for security reasons.”

The two simply stared at him before the one in the beanie finally spoke up.

“Are you allowed to do that?”

David smirked.

“I’m the world’s leading expert on Total Mental Psychosis. Actually, I’m the only expert, simply because it’s such a rare form of psychosis that there is very little hard evidence to work with. But yeah, I’m allowed to do whatever I want if it’s in the name of continuing my research for a cure.”

The two looked impressed before the smaller one with colored hair spoke up as well.

“So, you think you can help him?”

“Yes, but I’ll need to know the truth about what happened before he fell into this state. I can assure you that anything you tell me will be strictly confidential. No one but the four of us will ever know the truth about what happened to Thomas.”

Spurred on by his words, and assured by his calm and caring nature, the two friends quickly explained about Thomas’ unique mental setup. They went on about his Sides and how he’d been using them to better understand himself and help others understand themselves. Finally, they spoke of a weird incident that occurred just before Thomas went off the deep end, where he spoke of a strange occurrence before lapsing into odd muttering, which never seemed to stop, except when he would suddenly scream for no reason.

“And eventually, he just completely stopped responding. He acts like he’s trapped somewhere that he can’t get out, but he can’t even register his environment. He doesn’t even realize he’s always in a strait jacket.”

David pondered this over, the pieces falling into place in his mind exactly as he predicted they would. Finally, he stood and went to kneel in front of the couple, who had scooted impossibly closer while they’d been talking so as to better hold each other. He reached out and took one of their hands in each of his.

“It’s going to be alright. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. And I can help him. But you have to promise that you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

They nodded, gripping his hands tighter as he continued.

“Thomas isn’t mentally ill in the standard sense of the word. His mind has been infected by a parasitic form of Insanity. It didn’t occur naturally, but rather invaded his mind.”

“Where did it come from?” the smaller one, Talyn, fearfully asked.

“I’m not sure exactly. This kind of Insanity is still purely theoretical to most of my colleagues, but I’ve seen it before. I know how to fight it, but I’ll need some time. And I’ll need your help for it.”

“What can we do?” the beanie wearer, Joan, pleaded.

“I need you to keep the doctors from bothering me until I’ve taken care of Thomas. I’ll be able to help him, but it will take me some time to fix everything. And afterward, you’ll need to be there for him. I can get rid of the Insanity, but I can’t get rid of the memories that it’ll leave behind, or the effects that will have been left on Thomas’ Sides. They’ll need you to be their strength for a while. Can I count on you to help me?”

The two looked at each other for a moment, then they turned back to David, resolution in their faces.

“For Thomas.”

 

***********************

 

**Darkness.**

**Pain.**

**Fear.**

That’s all he’d felt for so long.

**No end.**

**No hope.**

**Nothing.**

**But more of the same.**

**The voices.**

**Calling out.**

**Telling him to fear.**

**Telling him to give in.**

And he wanted to.

He so wanted to.

He’d do anything to be free from the pain.

Anything.

_But something wouldn’t let him. Something inside, telling him to hold on, to stay strong, to not give in._

He wished he could stop listening to that voice, because it always brought more pain.

**But the other voice was even worse.**

**It told him to give in.**

**To let them win.**

**Because he was nobody.**

****Because he deserved to be lost.** **

_But the other voice kept saying that he deserved to be happy. To be free. To live life in peace and joy and love. And he could only do that if he didn’t give in._

“He’s right, you know.”

And then there was that voice.

…

Wait.

That voice wasn’t there before.

He’d never heard that one.

“That’s because I’m new.”

What?

There can’t be a new voice.

“Yes, there can.”

But, how?

“I’m here to help you.”

…

Could it be?

Someone here to help?

But no, it must be a trick.

**The bad voice would sometimes trick him like that.**

“This isn’t a trick. I’m really here to help you.”

…

Really?

“Yes. I’m here to help you. But you have to trust me.”

…

How do I know I can trust you?

The other voices ask me to trust them, and they only bring pain, even if they promise it will end.

“I guess you can’t. But what have you got to lose?”

…

What do I have to lose?

Either he’s really here to help and I finally find peace, or it’s just more of the same.

…

Alright, I trust you.

“Good. Now, hold on.”

Hold on? What do you-

 

***********************

 

“-mean?”

Light suddenly assaulted Thomas’ eyes as he began to look around. He was in a room with padding on every surface. He’d seen rooms like this before, on TV or the internet. Rooms for people who couldn’t control themselves and needed to be kept locked away for their own safety. Was he locked away? Was he insane? Was that where he’d been all this time?

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s alright. Just breathe with me, okay?”

Thomas hadn’t even realized he wasn’t breathing. He turned toward the voice, and saw a young man roughly his age in a lab coat knelt next to him. He was holding his shoulder with one hand and gesturing taking a breath with the other. Thomas did his best to follow, and soon enough he was breathing almost regularly again. Finally, he felt relaxed enough to address the situation.

“Where am I? What’s been happening? And who are you?”

The young man sat back.

“My name is Dr. Braxton, but you can call me David. I’m a specialist in dealing with patients suffering from Total Mental Psychosis. I was called in to try and help you here.”

Thomas was already afraid at seeing where he was, and that fear only increased on hearing about this doctor who’d been called to see him.

“…am I insane?”

The doctor gave a small, somewhat sad smile.

“Not exactly, but your mind has been infected by a form of parasitic insanity. It’s been trying to take complete control of your mind for the past year. Luckily, it seems that part of your mind has been fighting its influence, keeping you from fully succumbing.”

Thomas’ head was spinning. There was just so much to take in. He’d been “infected” by insanity? And part of him had been fighting it for a year now? Did that mean his sides were trying to fight it? Were they all still intact? And what had happened to his friends, his family in the meantime? Had they been taking care of him? Did they even know?

The weight of the implications was starting to cause him to hyperventilate, but the doctor grabbed his shoulder again and helped him to stabilize. Once he was back down, he asked the most pertinent of his questions.

“Is there anything you can do to help me, Doctor?”

“You can just call me David. And yes, there is. I can take you and myself into your mind, where we can fight off this insanity and restore your mind to your full control.”

“You can do that?”

“I can. Once we’re in there, we’ll have to find the parts of you that have been resisting its influence and get them to help us. Hopefully they’ll be able to help you free the parts of you that have already succumbed, and then we can all stop this parasite.”

Thomas was feeling nervous. It seemed this doctor might know more than he should about Thomas’…unique mental makeup. The doctor—no, David—must have seen the wary look on his face, as he suddenly spoke up.

“It’s okay. Your friends, Joan and Talyn? They told me about your sides. I promise no one else has been told, and I will not reveal your secret to anyone, okay?”

Thomas was still wary, but something about David made him feel like he could be trusted, so he nodded his head. Then suddenly realizing what he’d said, he quickly asked, “Wait, Joan and Talyn are here? Are they okay? Did I hurt them at any point? Have they-“

“Hey, it’s okay. Yes, they’re here, and they’re perfectly fine. Worried about you, of course, but they’re alright. Even in your darkest moments, you’ve never hurt them.”

Thomas felt relief flood through him at that. “Can I see them?”

“Once we’re done. Right now they’re making sure we’re not interrupted. It’ll take some time to deal with this insanity, and we don’t need anyone interfering while we’re doing so.”

Thomas nodded in understanding as David shifted himself closer, helping to sit Thomas up against the wall. He then placed his fingers at various points on either side of his head. Finally, he met Thomas’ eyes and asked, “Are you ready?”

Thomas hesitated. He was terrified of what he might find in his mind. But the thought of what horrors his sides must be facing prompted him to steel his resolve. With a determined sigh, he nodded his head. David smiled, then closed his eyes. Thomas felt a jolt inside his head, and as he closed his eyes, he felt a surge of energy course through his brain as a bright light engulfed him.

 

***********************

 

Thomas had only taken a few trips into his mindscape. As such, he had very little understanding of how it worked. But he had at least some knowledge as to what it mostly looked like.

This however was definitely not what he remembered.

The commons room should have been familiar, appearing very similar to his living room. But the thick coating of black ink on almost every surface left it almost unrecognizable. There were even great drooling piles on the ground and long dripping strands from the ceiling, further masking the room’s normal appearance.

“Is this…is this all…is this the insanity?” he asked, turning to David.

“Not quite. This is the residual insanity. This thing’s left it everywhere to make sure your mind is as under its control as it can manage.”

They carefully picked their way around the mess, doing their best not to touch the black liquid. As they passed the TV, Thomas caught a glimpse of his reflection. At least here in his mind he looked almost normal. He shuddered to think what he actually looked like, but pushed that thought aside as he narrowly avoided a line of the ink dripping from the ceiling.

“How can we get rid of it all?”

“Well, this stuff we can just clean up. It’s the actual Insanity entity that we have to worry about. But this stuff we just need to start removing.”

“How? There’s so much of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t think a dust buster is going to work on this.”

David began to rummage in his lab coat’s inside pocket. After a few moments, he pulled out what appeared to be a Roomba. Thomas stared at him, a little put off.

“Do you really think a Roomba is going to be able to clean up all this?”

“This one can,” David replied. He tapped a few buttons on the control panel, then balanced the Roomba on his finger while spinning it like a plate. Once it was balanced, he pushed up with his finger before dropping his arm.

Instead of falling, the Roomba began to hover in the air before descending closer to the ground. It approached a large puddle of the black goop, and as soon as it was close enough, it began to be sucked up into the hovering device, leaving no residual trace of it ever having been there.

Thomas was stunned for a moment, but the sound of movement from behind him pulled him back to the matter at hand. He turned around, and was met with the silhouette of a figure hidden in the darkened kitchen.

“Who’s there?”

“Thomas? Is that you?”

The voice was low and gravely.

“Virgil? Is it really you?”

“Thomas! You’re okay!”

“Virge!” Thomas made to move toward him, but the figure moved further back into the darkness.

“No, don’t come any closer.”

“Virgil, I just want to see you. I haven’t seen a friendly face in so long.”

“Look, it’s great and all that you’re back from…wherever it had you. But you can’t come any closer to me. It’s not safe.”

“What do you mean it’s not safe?”

There was silence, then Virgil stepped forward into the light, and Thomas felt his stomach twist at what he saw.

Virgil’s form had been twisted into something just off enough to seem disconcerting. His body had odd angles and his hands ended in something like claws. His eyes were purple, and small patches of the black ink could be seen on his hoodie and jeans.

“I’m sorry, Thomas. I’ve been corrupted by it. If you get near me, you might be corrupted too.”

“Oh, Virge.”

“I’m sorry. I just…everyone was gone. They’d all been taken. I was so alone. So scared. I just…I just wanted to have them back. And it told me I could if I joined it. But it lied. They were ever worse after that. It’s taken everything I have to fight it. So much of this washed off, so many times I’ve killed myself to keep from being fully consumed. I…”

Virgil broke down, falling to his knees. Unable to resist the urge, Thomas rushed to him, kneeling down in front of him and pulling him into a hug, which Virgil reciprocated.

“It’s okay. We’ve all been affected by this…thing. But we can stop it, together.”

Virgil’s sobs began to subside, but not before a stream of white tears began to flow from Thomas’ eyes. As they fell onto Virgil’s hoodie, they began to seep into the fabric. As the last tear was absorbed, Virgil suddenly convulsed, causing Thomas to let go and move away from him.

He stood as Virgil’s body shook and spasmed. The purple in his eyes disappeared, becoming their original brown. His hands returned to normal, and his form shifted back to the normal contours of a human. The patches of ink on him moved to join a black mass that was growing out of his chest, right above his heart. For a few moments, it pulsed violently. Then it exploded, leaving no trace of itself as a white light shone out from his heart.

Virgil panted for a few minutes, then slowly stood as he examined himself.

“I’m…I’m back. I’m…cured. Thomas, you saved me. But…how?”

Thomas shook his head, just as confused as Virgil. He turned to David.

“How did I cure him?”

“This is your mind. You have absolute control here, even if you don’t always use it. You wanted to save him, and so you did. Not only is he cured, but he’s now protected, just like you were when you hugged him. Neither of you can be reinfected by this insanity again.”

Thomas beamed in joy at this realization, but a tap on his shoulder made him turn to Virgil.

“Uh, not to ruin the happy moment, but who is this guy?”

“Oh, uh, this is Dr. Braxton. I mean, this is David. He’s here to help us stop Insanity.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes at him, looking wary.

“How do you know he’s not one of Insanity’s tricks?”

“Because he was able to pull me out of wherever Insanity had me locked away and back to the real world. He said that this Insanity didn’t occur naturally, but that it’s some sort of parasite that invaded my mind and attacked you guys. He says he knows how to fight it, and can help us get rid of it.”

“It won’t be easy,” David added. “But it is possible to stop it once and for all.”

Virgil looked between the two, before squaring his shoulders and nodding.

“Alright, I trust you Thomas. If he says he can help, then he can help. But we can’t stay here. Insanity’s going to know pretty quickly that I’m not infected anymore, and once he does he’ll come after me. Logan’s been trying to keep him busy today while I was trying to look for you, but I guess I don’t need to do that now. But we still need to get somewhere safe.”

“Where?”

“Follow me.”

Virgil led Thomas and David through the hallways, avoiding the ink as best they could. They finally came to a door painted in rainbow stripes. Checking around them to make sure they weren’t being watched, Virgil knocked out a pattern on the door.

A few moments of silence passed. Then the handle turned and the door cracked ever so slightly open. A pair of dark lenses looked at then through the crack for a moment before the door was fully opened, revealing another Thomas wearing shades and a leather jacket.

“Virgil, you found him?”

“Yeah, well, sort of. Actually, he found me.”

The figured hesitated, then pulled back, further opening the door. “Get him in here, quick.”

The three rushed in as the jacketed figure closed the door behind them.

“What exactly do you mean by he found you?”

“I was sneaking back through the kitchen when I saw these two figures in the living room. I was trying to stay quiet, but I must have made some noise, because one of them turned around and looked at me, and it was Thomas.”

“Thomas,” the figure repeated, stepping up to him. The two looked at each other, Thomas looking confused, the other figure suspicious.

“Uh, do I know you?” Thomas finally asked. The figure smirked.

“Not as well as you should, girl,” the figure replied before pulling him into a big hug.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay. We were starting to fear the worst had happened to you.”

“Well, thank you, but who are you? I mean, you look like my Sleep character, but that wouldn’t make sense.”

The figure laughed. “Girl, I am Sleep, though everyone just calls me Remy.”

Thomas’ eyes scrunched up in confusion.

“Sleep is one of my sides?”

“What? No, I’m not a Side. I’m just an Aspect: a part of your psyche important enough to have a manifestation but not so important that I get to be a main side.”

Thomas continued to scrutinize Remy.

“So Sleep is important enough to warrant being an…’almost side’?”

“By itself, no. But I also represent the more laid back part of your personality, and your lack of proper self-care.”

“I’m going to try and not be insulted by that.”

“Hey, I’m just a part of you. Whatever I am is based on who and what you are.”

Thomas huffed, but dropped the subject.

“So, why are we here?” he asked, turning to address Virgil again.

“Roman and Patton are off doing something together, so Jimmy’s room is the best place for us to hide from them right now.”

“Jimmy?”

“I’m here,” a small voice called.

From inside the open closet a small boy appeared. He couldn’t have been much older than ten, but Thomas would have recognized his own preteen face anywhere. He knelt down to be on the same level as the child.

“Hello, who are you?” he asked in a gentle voice.

The child slowly approached him before responding.

“I’m Faith. But everyone calls me Jimmy, or Jim, or Jimbo, or—“

“I think he gets it, Jimbo,” Remy interrupted.

Faith had a hard time making eye contact. Thomas reached out and gently took hold of his shoulders.

“Are you okay, Jimmy?”

Jimmy shook his head. David suddenly knelt down next to Thomas, and put his own hand on Jimmy’s shoulder.

“Are you scared, Jimmy?”

Jimmy hesitated, but then nodded.

“Good, that’s good Jimmy.”

The boy looked up at him, confused. “Why is that good?”

“Well, let me tell you about scared,” David began, pulling him closer.

“Your heart is beating so fast that you can feel it in your hands. Your blood is pumping so much oxygen through your brain that it’s like rocket fuel. Right now, because of that fear, you can jump higher, run faster, fight harder than you ever could in your entire life. And you’re so alert that it’s like everything’s moving in slow motion.

“You see, there’s nothing wrong with being scared. Scared is a super power. There is danger in this room, and that danger is you. Can you feel it?”

Jimmy, enraptured by what he’d said, nodded, almost smiling.

“And I’ll bet Insanity can feel it too. Do you think Insanity’s scared?”

Jimmy shook his head.

“No, Insanity’s not scared, and that means it’s a loser. And that’s why we’re going to defeat it. Because it’s not afraid, but it should be.”

Jimmy beamed, his rainbow shirt shining brighter than it had in a long time. He flung his arms around David’s neck, and David hugged him close. After a minute they broke apart, and Jimmy ran to stand next to Remy.

“Nice Doctor Who reference,” Thomas commented as he and David stood up again.

“You can never go wrong with borrowing the wisdom of those who came before.”

“Well, that’s all fine and good, but we need a plan to actually defeat Insanity,” Virgil put in.

“Alright,” Thomas began, clapping his hands together. “Who all have we got?”

“Well, there’s you two. I’m now cured, thanks to you. Logan has been fighting it for a while. I might still be able to reach Patton, but I’m not sure. And for whatever reason those three couldn’t ever be corrupted.”

“Those three?” Thomas interjected before Remy responded.

“He means me, Jimmy, and—“

“Me.”

Another figure appeared from within the closet. His glasses were taped together and his beige cardigan and pink tie showed obvious sign of wear and tear. But there was no mistaking him.

“Dr. Emile Picani, at your service.”

Thomas stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Emile? But I thought you were just a character I created.”

“Like your sides? Or Remy? Every one of your characters is based on some part of you, Thomas. I myself am the Aspect of Empathy, the part of you that is capable of understanding others’ emotional and mental states. I didn’t have an official form, of course, until you created the character, but I was always a part of you.”

“Okay, so we have you three,” Thomas said, trying to get back on track. “And you’ve never been able to be corrupted?”

“Nope,” Remy replied. “I’m too indifferent to succumb to Insanity’s tricks. Faith can only be corrupted when he loses all hope, and I’ve done my best to protect him.”

“And because I’m Empathy, I stand in direct conflict with Insanity’s selfish desires, making it impossible for it to infect me. Which is probably why Patton or Roman almost always kill me very quickly whenever I regenerate.”

Thomas blanched at that, but decided to put it aside for later. Right now, they had more important matters to deal with.

“Alright, so what can we do to stop Insanity?”

“First, we need to get rid of its connection to the others,” David supplied. “Without control over them, it can’t stay in your mind.”

“Okay, are those three the only ones we need to free? Is there anyone else in here we need to find?”

“I don’t believe so,” Emile said. “After it took over, all of the other aspects were either repressed or destroyed.”

“What about the…the dark sides?” Jimmy asked, starting to whimper.

“The only one left is Deceit,” Virgil explained, a dark look in his eyes. “But we haven’t seen him in weeks. It’s possible Insanity finally got tired of him and destroyed or repressed him.”

“We should probably keep an eye out for him, just in case,” David added. “But otherwise, I think we can focus on the others.”

“Right,” Thomas agreed. “How do we do that?”

“YoU dOn’T.”

The group turned in shock at the distorted voice, only to be grabbed by inky tentacles and dragged into the hallway. There, they were brought before a tall figure, dripping with ink. It had only eyes and a sinister mouth, and its form bubbled and rippled, like the liquid it was made of.

“WeLl, WeLl, WeLl. LoOk WhAt We HaVe HeRe.”

The figure eyed them maliciously, its gaze lingering on Virgil and Thomas in particular.

“I wAs WoNdErInG wHy I cOuLdN’t FeEl YoU tWo AnYmOrE. sO yOu MaNaGeD tO eScApE yOuR pRiSoN aNd CuRe ViRgIl Of HiS cOrRuPtIoN. wElL, wE’lL sEe HoW lOnG tHaT wIlL lAsT.”

The tentacles began to drag the group down the hallway, moving towards a dark blue door, which swung open as they approached.

“Oh LoGaN, i HaVe SoMe NeW vOlUnTeErS fOr OuR eXpErImEnTs.”

Logan turned around from where he was working. If he was surprised to see the group, he didn’t show it.

“Ah, yes, put them on the tables. I’ve been meaning to create a new batch of Rainbow, and these three newcomers might be just what I need to perfect it.”

The tentacles forced each of them onto one of the tables, which immediately secured each of them in place. As the tentacles receded, Insanity moved up to Thomas.

“StArT wItH tHiS oNe. I dOn’T tHiNk We’Ll NeEd MoRe ThAn OnE dOsE fRoM hIm.”

Logan nodded and moved over to Thomas, who had gone pale at Insanity’s instructions. He pulled up his shirt, exposing his torso as a machine arm tipped with a large syringe moved to hover over his chest. Logan leaned over him to ensure he was strapped in tightly, but then whispered into Thomas’ ear, “Run for the commons as soon as you can. I’ll join you once I seal him in here.”

Thomas stared at him in shock, then nodded almost imperceptibly. The others watched in fear as Logan grabbed the machine’s remote. Virgil and Remy were glaring at him, Emile and David were looking puzzled, and Jimmy was outright whimpering. Insanity meanwhile was looking on in glee.

“I’vE aLwAyS wOnDeReD wHaT wOuLd HaPpEn If YoU wErE kIlLeD iNsIdE yOuR oWn MiNd.”

Logan paused, his hand over the button. Then, he pressed it.

For a split second, Insanity smirked in triumph, but then suddenly began to shriek with pain. A second machine, hidden in the shadows, had darted out and stabbed Insanity in the back. It continued to scream as the syringe began to suck it up, drawing it into its holding tank.

The tentacles fell to the floor with a squelch, and with a second press of a button their restraints let go.

“Hurry, get to the commons, I’ll be there shortly.”

The group nodded and took off as Logan stood between them and the second machine, which was beginning to creak ominously. Suddenly it exploded, leaving a heaving pile of ink in its place.

Insanity looked livid.

“HoW dArE yOu, AfTeR aLl I’vE dOnE tO hElP yOu ExPaNd YoUr MiNd.”

“You haven’t helped me,” Logan retorted, backing toward his work bench as Insanity advanced on him. “You’ve just been trying to manipulate me to your own advantage. No longer.”

“AnD wHaT aRe YoU gOiNg To Do To StOp Me? ThAt LaSt LiTtLe TrIcK dIdN’t WoRk. WhAt ElSe CoUlD yOu PoSsIbLy HaVe?”

“This,” he cried, and from behind his back he threw something at the figure.

As soon as it made contact, the mass began to grow vines that quickly ensnared Insanity. Caught off guard, it was unable to stop them from burrowing into its form. Logan quickly grabbed the rest and flung them at it, running from the room as they too entangled it in their mass.

Once he was out and had sealed the door behind him, he ran for the commons. There, he found the others catching their breath on the sectional, which was now cleared of ink. In fact, the entire room was barren of dark liquids, save for one last patch on the wall next to him, which was quickly being sucked up by a hovering Roomba.

“Should I be concerned about this airborne cleaning robot?”

“No,” David replied. “I’ve just set it to clean up the residual insanity lying around.”

“Very well then. Might I then inquire as to who you are?”

“You can call me David. I’m a doctor, and I’m here to help Thomas defeat Insanity.”

Logan simply nodded as Thomas got up and came up to him. Logan suddenly found it hard to maintain eye contact, opting instead to look off to the side.

“Thomas, are you…are you alright?”

“I will be. Thank you for saving us back there.”

Logan shook his head. “I’m the one who let it in. I’m the one who started this mess. I’m the one who let it trick me into thinking what it wanted me to do would help me truly understand everything I’ve ever wanted to know. I was so foolish. I really believed the lies it told me. Can you ever forgive me for my ignorance?”

Thomas grasped his shoulders, a smile on his face.

“As long as you remember that you can make mistakes, and that even when you do you can learn from them and become more knowledgeable for the next time, I will.”

Logan gave a small smile in return, and the two embraced. Another stream of white tears flowed down Thomas’ cheeks and into Logan’s shirt. Just like with Virgil, he began to shudder. Thomas stepped back as Logan’s form, as contorted as Virgil’s had been, reverted to normal, and a black mass accumulated over his heart before popping out of existence.

Logan took a deep breath, his eyes closed. And when he opened them, Thomas could see the muted joy in his eyes once more.

“I feel as good as new. Thank you Thomas.”

Thomas nodded. The others smiled. Virgil smirked as well before speaking up.

“So now what do we do?”

“Our next course of action must be to try and free Patton and Roman from Insanity’s influence,” Logan responded. “Only when they’ve been restored to normal can this entity be completely removed from Thomas’ mind.”

“And what makes you think I want to go back to normal?”

The group turned toward the hallway. Roman was standing in the entrance to the commons, his sword clutched in one clawed hand, the Roomba whirring in the other. His red eyes stared them down with sadistic glee, and his forked tongue darted in and out of his mouth as he sneered at them. He suddenly threw the robot up into the air, and sliced it in two.

“I’ve had the best time of my life these past few months. My creativity has never been so unbridled. I’ve been able to do so much more than I ever could when I was stuck having to cater your insipid concerns. Why would I want to give up all that freedom?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Virgil retorted, moving forward to face him. “Because our duty is to help Thomas, not ourselves.”

“Hmm, but why would I do that when it’s so much more fun to do whatever I want?” He twirled the sword idly in his hand, looking almost bored.

“Roman, please,” Virgil began to plead with him. “I know this isn’t you. This is just the insanity twisting your mind. You wouldn’t ever do this to us.”

“Why not? Why should I let any sort of concerns affect what I want to do?”

“Because you love us.”

Roman barked out a cold, cruel laugh. “Oh, please. You’ll have to do better than that. For now, though, why don’t I just see how well you handle yourself against my GUARDS!”

Roman shouted out the last word, and a group of inky soldiers moved into the room. Thomas, David, and the other uncorrupted sides moved into the center to best ward them off. Virgil continued to stare pleadingly at Roman. For a moment, everyone stood still, waiting. Then one of the soldiers swung his sword at Virgil, which he barely stopped with a conjured shield.

The fight began.

The soldiers attacked, doing their best to strike at the group. But David and Logan neatly disarmed a few of them, throwing their shields to Thomas and Picani while they struck back with the confiscated swords. Any soldier that was defeated dissipated into nothing, leaving room for more to take their place.

The shields were put to good use against the oncoming waves of fighters, knocking them down with enough force to end them. Remy kept darting between the attackers, conjuring up cups of hot coffee to dump on the soldiers’ heads before slamming them away. Faith stayed close to Thomas and Picani, keeping himself between them while also watching their backs, occasionally kicking at any guards that didn’t immediately dissipate upon being knocked down.

Virgil meanwhile was fighting as best he could as soldier after soldier attacked him.

“Roman, please, this isn’t like you.”

Roman merely sneered in glee at him as he knocked another soldier back.

“You wouldn’t do this to us. You know we love you. Even when we try to reign in your ideas, you know we do it out of love for you and Thomas. We’d be lost without your ideas.”

Another soldier, another quick blow to the head before throwing it into the wall. But the fight was no longer Roman’s priority. He could feel something inside him, something powerful that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I know you’re still in there, Roman. I know you can still come back.”

Roman looked away, unable to look Virgil in the eye. “You don’t know everything I’ve done in the past months. You wouldn’t be so quick to forgive me if you knew the truth.”

“Yes we would. We’ve all been affected by this. And we’ve all done things we regret. But we can still forgive each other and move forward. And no matter what you’ve done since Insanity got a hold of you, we all still love you.”

Virgil twirled around a soldier, knocking it into a sword thrust from Logan before coming right up to Roman.

“I still love you.”

The earnestness of the words caught Roman by surprise. He looked into Virgil’s eyes.

“You love me? Even after all of this?”

“I never stopped loving you. I was going to tell you before all of this happened. But I guess now is as good a time as any.”

Virgil heard a shout behind him, and turned to see a soldier running toward him. He didn’t even have time to pull up his shield to defend himself, but he didn’t need to. The soldier stopped dead a foot away from bringing his sword down, letting out a startled cry. In shock, they and Virgil looked down at their chest, where a thin sword had been thrust through. Following the blade led to a clawed hand and a gold-trimmed white sleeve.

Virgil turned back around to look at Roman as the soldier dissipated. For a moment, all they registered was the other’s shock. Then their lips came together.

The others and their attackers, startled at the soldier’s cry, watched as they embraced. David, Thomas, Logan, and Picani were all surprised, but still looked pleased to see them intertwined. Remy however let out a groan as Jimmy squealed in joy and turned to him.

“Ha! Told you! When this is over, you owe me five bucks.”

“Ugh, fine,” Remy muttered, throwing another conjured cup at a soldier, restarting the fight.

The two continued to kiss as the soldiers kept advancing on the group, ignoring the couple. Then another voice spoke up.

“Well, aren’t they just so cute together.”

The group turned, and Thomas’ stomach almost emptied itself at what he saw.

Patton’s form was just as distorted as the others’ had been. And his yellow eyes looked just as malicious as Roman’s. But what scared them all the most was the thread that was keeping his mouth sewn into a permanent smile.

But they could only dwell on it for a moment, as the soldiers continued to attack. Logan fought his way over to Patton, leaving the group to defend itself. A quick glance behind him showed they were managing without him. And Roman and Virgil, who had broken apart upon hearing Patton, were now working as a unit to fight the horde, who had now turned on their leader. With this understanding, he focused in on Patton.

“I always knew they had a soft spot for each other. Remember when we used to wonder when they’d get together, Logan? All those long nights we talked about our kiddos, and whether or not they’d figure it out? Why don’t we ever do that anymore?”

“Because we have been in the throes of a dangerous entity bent on twisting us into its loyal slaves for its malicious intentions.”

“Ugh, that was rhetorical, Logic,” Patton growled. Logan lowered his sword.

“Patton, I know that you are not so callous as to dismiss what I have to say. You have always been open to listening to my explanations. This dismissive attitude is a result of your corruption by Insanity. But Thomas can cure you, as he has done so for Virgil and myself. And you will be free from its hold.”

“Why would I want to be free? I get to play all the games I want to with my kiddos. I never have to worry about what is and isn’t safe. I just get to have fun.”

“But at what cost? All of your games have left us in pain, or worse. The real Patton would never do this to us.”

A shout from behind him made Logan turn, and Patton leaned to the side to see around him.

Roman had been thrown across the room by a particularly large soldier, and now Virgil was lying on the floor, barely managing to keep the shield between him and the soldier’s weapon.

“Your kiddos need you, Patton,” Logan said, turning back to him. “Virgil needs you. Roman needs you. The aspects need you. Thomas needs you. And I need you.”

Patton felt something. Something deep inside where his heart used to be. Something he’d only managed to feel once in the long months that his mind had been clouded.

A clatter caught their attention. Virgil’s shield had been forced away, knocked into Roman, who had tried to return to him. The soldier over him now raised its axe, ready to strike. And at that moment, Patton’s eyes turned back to brown before he disappeared in a blur of movement.

The soldier never even saw it coming. One moment it was ready to strike down the figure before it, the next it was being pushed back with the force of an 18 wheeler. It never even knew what had happened before it smashed to pieces against the wall.

Virgil looked up in shock at the figure now standing above him, glaring at the place the soldier had impacted with unbridled rage.

“Nobody hurts my son.”

“Patton?”

Patton turned around, his eyes still fierce with anger, but now also wet with white tears, which dissolved the thread around his mouth.

“Virgil.”

Virgil got up, and the two embraced.

“Oh, kiddo, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Dad. You haven’t been yourself lately. None of us have.”

The two continued to cry into each other’s shoulders as the last of the soldiers were taken out. Finally, they broke apart. Patton turned to the group, who were now beaming at the return of their favorite father figure figment. Logan even walked up and pulled him into a hug.

“I knew you were still in there, my dear Patton.”

“That makes one of us. But thank you for still believing in me, Lo.”

The group watched for a moment in joy. But then a screech from down the hall reminded the group of the danger still present.

“Quick, Thomas, you need to cure Patton and Roman,” David called, moving between the group and the hall entrance. “It’s the only way to make sure we can get rid of Insanity for good.”

The two sides quickly went over to Thomas, who embraced them as he cried out two streams of white tears. The two were soon returned to normal, just like Virgil and Logan. As one, the sides and aspects joined with their host to prepare for the fight that was still to come. They could all hear something big moving toward them in the darkened hallway.

Then the sound of movement ceased. For a few moments, there was silence. And then, it struck.

A series of inky tentacles lurched out of the shadowed hallway, grasping each member of the group before they could defend themselves. Only David had managed to keep from being grabbed, but only just. The tentacles moved the others to the sides of the room as Insanity entered, its malicious sneer back in place after Logan’s attack.

“LoOkS lIkE tHe GaNg’S aLl BaCk ToGeThEr,” it growled. “DoN’t YoU jUsT lOvE fAmIlY rEuNiOnS?”

David threw off the tentacle attacking him and moved toward Insanity, determination on his face.

“Insanity, release them now, and I’ll let you come quietly.”

Insanity looked taken aback. But then it began to laugh, a strange, unearthly sound that sent shivers down David’s spine. But he kept himself resolute.

“YoU’lL lEt Me CoMe QuIeTlY? i DoN’t ThInK yOu ReAlIzE jUsT wHaT iT iS yOu’Re DeAlInG wItH hErE. i’M INSANITY. yOu CaN’t StOp Me AnY mOrE tHaN tHeY cOuLd.”

David actually smirked. “You’d be surprised.”

For a moment, they stared each other down. Then the attack began.

One after another, Insanity threw tentacles at David. Each did its best to grab or strike him. But he was too fast, dodging and ducking each attack. Insanity couldn’t touch him. But then one came up behind him and tripped him, and he fell back onto the ground before another came down and stabbed him through the heart.

Thomas and his sides and aspects gasped. Insanity cackled as it moved in closer, the tentacle pulling David’s form, still impaled, into the air. It got right up to his ear, and whispered. “ToLd YoU sO.”

For a moment, it seemed as if David had been defeated. But just as Insanity pulled back, he stirred, turning to look Insanity in the eye, and whispered back to him.

“I’ve had worse.”

Insanity barely had time to register what he’d said before David grabbed the tentacle impaling him, and a wave of pain shot through Insanity’s form. The tentacle dissolved into nothing, and David landed on his feet. Insanity backed away, sending another wave of tentacles at him. This time David didn’t even bother to dodge them, instead letting them strike him. Each one that did instantly evaporated into dust.

Insanity, realizing it couldn’t win, turned to flee down the hallway, but David was already there. It tried to back away again, but David reached out and grabbed it.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of powerful beings in my time,” he whispered menacingly. “Creatures and monsters that have terrorized entire universes. They were all so much more powerful than you claim to be, and every single one fell to me.”

Where David was holding it, Insanity’s form began to burn.

“I am the one that stops the monsters. I am the one who keeps the balance in the cosmos. No matter what its form, evil can never stand up to me. And you’re no exception. Just like all the others, you lose.”

David suddenly let go, and as his hands moved away from Insanity’s form, a bubble of energy appeared around it, sealing it in. At once the tentacles holding the others dissolved. They hadn’t heard what David had whispered to the entity, but if it was enough to scare it like that, they weren’t sure they wanted to know. In any case, they were just glad to be free of Insanity’s menace.

The group converged on David, thanking him profusely and embracing each other. After a few moments, David managed to get their attention and they quieted down.

“Really, guys, it was nothing, but thank you. Now, we need to be sure that there’s no other trace of Insanity left in Thomas’ mind. Are we absolutely sure that there is no one else here who might still be infected?”

The group exchanged glances.

“The only other being left in here was Deceit,” Logan confirmed. “But no one has seen him in weeks. We assumed that Insanity decided to end him, like it did with the other dark sides.”

“Then it looks like this is finally over,” David confirmed with a relieved sigh.

The group let out a joint breath, relieved to be free from their torment. But behind them, unseen, a figure lurked on the wall, hidden in the shadows. They hadn’t seen him at all during the fight, but his many eyes ensured that he’d seen everything that had gone down. He crept down the wall on all fours, slinking toward the orb that held Insanity.

“Well, it ssseemsss that they got the bessst of you, eh?”

“WhAt Do YoU wAnT, dEcEiT?”

“I want the sssame thing you want: complete control of Thomasss’ mind. But thanksss to thisss intruder, neither of usss can get that on our own. But working together, we might jussst prevail.”

“AnD wHaT wOuLd I hAvE tO gIvE yOu In ReTuRn FoR hElPiNg Me? I dOuBt yOu’D dO tHiS oUt Of ThE gOoDnEsS oF yOuR hEaRt.”

“Equal partnership of courssse. After all, if we really do need each other, we might asss well be equalsss in thisss endeavor. Wouldn’t you sssay that’sss fair?”

Insanity stared at him, glaring intently. But then it held out its hand in agreement. Deceit smiled, and reached his hand through the bubble to grasp the other’s in return. At once the bubble burst, and Insanity’s form melted and moved to smother Deceit’s.

The sound of the bubble popping drew everyone’s attention. They watched, horrified, as Deceit’s ink-covered form grew and expanded. Yellow eyes appeared all over the hulking body. Two, then four, then six arms erupted from the sides. The figure rose higher and higher, until its hat was nearly brushing the ceiling.

“WELL NOW, LOOKS LIKE IT’S TIME FOR ROUND TWO.”

Its voice was doubled, incorporating Deceit’s own malicious lilt with the original distortion, creating something both more stable and more terrifying.

“Deceit, what have you done?” Patton asked.

“I’VE FINALLY WON. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS OF BEING PUT DOWN BY EVERYONE, I FINALLY HAVE THE UPPER HAND. AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP US.”

“But why?” Thomas pleaded. “Why would you do this to them? Why would you do this to me? I thought you were supposed to protect me in your own way?”

“WHY SHOULD I PROTECT YOU WHEN I COULD JUST _BE_ YOU? IMAGINE, ME, FREE TO MANIPULATE AND CONTROL EVERYONE. AN ENTIRE WORLD AT MY COMMAND. AND THANKS TO MY NEW PARTNER, IT WON’T JUST STOP THERE. ALL OF REALITY WILL BE AT OUR FINGERTIPS.”

“No, it won’t,” a low voice spoke up from being the figure. It turned around, and saw Virgil staring him down. “You won’t be doing that.”

“AND WHY IS THAT?”

“Because Thomas would never let you.”

“HA! YOU THINK THOMAS CAN STOP US?! HE’S BEEN AT OUR MERCY FOR FAR TOO LONG. HE COULDN’T STOP US BEFORE. WHY WOULD HE BE ABLE TO NOW?”

“Because he has us to help him now,” another voice added from the figure’s right. It turned to see Roman, sword in hand, ready to strike.

“We may not have been there for him these last few months,” Patton’s voice continued behind it, looking angrier than any of them had ever seen him.

“But we’re here now, and we’re not going to let you do this to him, or anyone,” Logan added, standing to its left, looking defiant.

“You will ruin his life no longer,” Remy confirmed, standing between Roman and Virgil.

“I believe in him, in us, and that’s a belief that won’t fail,” Jimmy called from between Patton and Virgil.

“You can’t stop all of us fighting against you,” Emile pointed out, coming to stand between Logan and Patton. “Because family is more powerful than you could ever hope to be.”

The seven kept slowly moving forward, boxing the figure in. Despite its superior size, it began to actually shake with fear.

“YOU CAN’T STOP ME. I’M A PART OF HIM NOW. HE NEEDS ME.”

“No, I don’t.”

Thomas came up to join the circle with David, inserting themselves between Logan and Roman.

“You used to be a part of me, Deceit. But once you decided you were only in this for yourself, then I didn’t need you anymore. I can already feel your connection to me weakening. All I have to do is cut you off, and I’ll never have to listen to your lies again.”

“NOW SEE HERE...”

Thomas ignored him, closing his eyes to concentrate. David and the sides and aspects did the same. A wind began to blow around the room, circling around the figure with glowing streaks of energy. It began to panic, and suddenly turned back to Thomas, shooting a yellow band of light at him.

It caught him in the chest, and for a brief moment the figure smirked in triumph. “SEE, WE’RE STILL CONNECTED,” it shouted in glee. But despite the energy piercing his heart, Thomas simply stood there, unfazed. The figure began to panic again as Thomas reached up with his hand to grasp the energy beam.

“Not anymore,” he whispered, still loud enough for all of them to hear. He held out his other hand and called to Roman, who quickly threw him his sword.

As if in slow motion, the group watched as the sword slowly flew through the air before being caught by Thomas and swung with the same motion directly through the beam, severing it.

The beam dissolved, and a horrible scream pierced the air as the figure began to bubble with amber energy. As it shrank down, amber liquid spewed forth, and the group knew what had become of the former manipulative dark side. Deceit was no more. Now alone, Insanity panted in the center of the circle.

It didn’t have time to react as Thomas and the others quickly resumed their concentration, forcing the figure to be ensnared once more in the swirling energy field. Thomas felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see David holding out a large painting with only a bare background. Realizing what he was suggesting, he took it and held it up over Insanity’s head.

“Get out of my head.”

He brought it down on Insanity, who disappeared beneath it with a burst of blinding light.

 

***********************

 

Joan and Talyn pressed themselves up against the padded wall on either side of the door to Thomas’ room. They’d managed to keep anyone from disturbing the doctor as he did…whatever he was doing to help Thomas. But they’d had a few close calls and were running out of options.

Suddenly the two could almost feel energy building up in the room. They turned to look, only to see the doctor and Thomas now standing up in the center of the room, shaking slightly. For a few seconds the shaking got worse and worse, before they both froze and a brilliant light burst forth. Once it faded, the couple looked again, and were almost too overcome with relief by what they saw.

Thomas was standing under his own power, being carefully helped out of his straight jacket by the doctor. All around were a group of seven people, most of whom the couple recognized. They all seemed worn out and tired, but mostly just relieved.

“Thomas? Are you…are you really back?” Talyn asked, tentatively.

The group turned to look at them. Tears began to form in many of their eyes.

“Talyn,” Thomas said simply, before turning to the other person standing next to them. “Joan.”

The two couldn’t wait any longer. They rushed at him, almost crushing him in a hug, which he returned. The three of them sobbed into each other’s shoulders as the seven other figures pressed in around them in a massive group hug, and the doctor stepped back to allow them their space. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat to gain their attention.

“Well, I think my work here is done for now. Joan, Talyn, I would like to thank you both for keeping us from being disturbed while we took care of this issue.”

Joan nodded their head in acknowledgement, but Talyn actually went over and gave him a hug, which he reciprocated.

“Thank you for bringing him back to us.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Before you leave, David, I must ask something,” Logan butted in, looking somewhat reluctant.

“Yes?” he replied as Talyn returned to Joan and Thomas.

“Firstly, what became of Insanity after we defeated it?”

“Once Thomas trapped it in that painting, it no longer had any connection to his mind, so I used my own unique abilities to send it somewhere where it won’t hurt anyone ever again. That way I can continue my research without risking anyone else’s safety.”

The group nodded in understanding.

“Very well. And secondly…”

He paused, looking almost fearful to ask.

“Even though Insanity is gone, we all still remember what it did to us. What we did…what we did to each other…and to ourselves…because of it.”

The tension in the room skyrocketed. Guilt and concern were written on almost every face.

“How do we move past that? How do we go on after…after everything that’s happened?”

David sighed, then moved closer, stretching his arms to bring the group in close.

“It’s not going to be easy. Your memories of what happened will never fully disappear, and the scars from your experiences will linger. It may take a long time for Thomas to be back to how he was before this started. He may never fully recover from this.

“But you all will heal. It will take time and effort. You’ll need to work together to move past all of this, and you’ll need to be honest with each other about any sort of pain or hurt still between you all. But as long as you learn to trust each other once again, and do your best to help Thomas together in future, then everything will turn out alright. I know it will.”

Logan nodded his head, the ghost of a smile on his face. Patton gave his own watery smile as he clung to Jimmy, who looked so happy to have his dad back. Remy smirked kindly as he leaned against Emile, who was nodding in approval. Roman and Virgil stood together, arms around each other with Virgil’s head tucked under Roman’s. Thomas pulled his two friends closer, who clung to his sides like they might lose him again.

Seeing them already leaning on each other for support, David smiled before opening his arms wider in invitation for a hug. The group moved into him, pressing close. They stayed that way for a long time, enjoying the feeling of hope and peace that the huddle brought. Finally, David pulled away.

“Alright, now we need to get Thomas home. I think at least for a while it would be best if he stayed with someone who can help keep an eye on him. Do you think you two could keep him at your place?”

Joan and Talyn exchanged glances before turning first to Thomas and then to David with a smile.

“Absolutely.”

David smiled as well.

“Good. Now, you guys need to go back to the mindscape so we can get Thomas out of here.”

The seven sides and aspects nodded in understanding, each giving their own farewell as they sunk out one by one.

“Be seeing you later tonight, girl.”

“Do get some rest, Thomas. You’ll need all you can manage.”

“We’ll make it, Thomas. I believe in us.”

“The future looks bright for all of us, princes and peasants alike.”

“Well, that’s one way to put it.”

“You know you love me, Virgil Interrupted.”

“Sure, that’s appropriate.”

“Well, that is going to be…interesting to look forward to.”

“But at least we’ll all deal with it, all of it, together, Lo.”

“Yes, yes we will.”

Once the last two were gone, David moved to the door to escort Thomas, Joan, and Talyn to the main office.

“So, can I ask you something, Thomas?” Joan spoke up as they moved down the hallways behind David. “Who were those other three guys? One of them looked like that Sleep character, and one of them reminded me of Dr. Picani, but I have no idea who that kid was.”

Thomas almost chuckled in amusement. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

Joan smirked in reply. “We’ve got all the time you need.”

Talyn smiled as well, pressing in closer to Thomas as he began to explain....

 

***********************

 

“After that, I had him released to go home with his Joan and Talyn. They’ll be able to help him get back on his feet and living a normal life. But even if he and his sides get to a point where he can live on his own again, those psychological scars are still going to take time to heal. I’ll probably have to return from time to time to offer guidance and assistance. But despite the long road ahead of them, I think that they’ll all make it in time.”

As David finished his story, he looked between his companions.

Thomas was hugging himself, looking shaken and tired but content. David had watched his face throughout the story, and the whirlwind rollercoaster of emotions he’d displayed would have left anyone feeling worn out. He didn’t blame him for looking so exhausted.

Patton was still weeping, but his hopeful smile revealed he too was happy for the outcome. He continued to cling to Logan, who with careful tenderness was wiping his tears away. But despite his neutral face, the slight tremble in his hands betrayed his own frayed nerves.

Virgil had continued to cling to Roman throughout the story. Roman in turn had continued to rub circles into his back. That is until in joy at the hopeful outcome they had met each other’s eyes, and upon suddenly realizing what was happening, quickly split apart, their faces red with embarrassment. But no one had paid them any heed as they returned to the circle, looking anywhere but at each other.

The group continued to watch the scene as Thomas was led by his friends through the halls of the facility. They truly were grateful that David had stepped in to help, and while his lie of omission left them feeling hurt, they could understand his decision not to tell them about this at the time. But something was still lingering in the back of Thomas’ mind.

“So then what did you do with him? I mean them. I mean, that Insanity thing. Where did it go when you sent it off?”

David stared at him for a moment. Finally, he responded.

“I’ll show you.”

 

***********************

 

Thomas had learned from experience that David’s personal universe was specifically designed as a safe refuge. A place for healing and comfort, where all could find peace. And the interior of his Tower was no exception. From the immense library to his souvenir museum to the extensive labs and research facilities, it provided a sense of calm to all who visited it.

At least that was true for the floors above ground. The same could not be said for the lower levels.

The dark tunnel they were now walking through was just as eerie as the wrought iron lift they’d taken from David’s office to reach this part of the tower. The walls and ceiling were made of dark stone, and the floor was like unpolished ebony. Small lights set every few feet offered a feeble smattering of illumination. And the doors they passed were made of a dark metal that seemed to repel light. All in all, it felt like a dungeon.

“The Under Tower is my vault,” David explained as he led them along. “It was designed to contain artifacts and objects too powerful to be used and too dangerous to be contained anywhere else. Only the highest ranking denizens of my world can access these floors.”

“What sort of objects?” Logan asked.

David glanced back over his shoulder. “You don’t want to know. Believe me, as much as I know you wish to understand these things, it will do you no good. It’s a terrible burden to know the things people have created to accomplish the darkest of acts.”

The others paled even further at that statement, but David simply turned forward again and continued down the hall. He eventually stopped at a door that appeared to have no handle. That is, until he help his hand right where one should be, and the hidden knob appeared between his fingers with a flash of blue light. He turned it and opened the door with a loud creak.

The room inside was empty, save for a painting held by an easel beneath a light in the ceiling. The painting itself appeared to be a silhouetted portrait, with no identifying marks or shapes. It looked completely unremarkable, until David walked up to it and said, “Hello again, Insanity.”

The figure moved, turning towards him. A distorted face took shape: a wicked grin with shining black orbs for eyes.

“Well, well, well, look who’s come to visit me here in my cozy little room,” it replied, sounding almost normal. “I’d offer you a seat, but you never saw fit to give me any furniture.”

While it sounded normal, the tone it used was enough to send shivers down their spines. David stood still, appearing unaffected.

“We’re not staying long. I just wanted to show Thomas and his sides here what became of you after you were defeated.”

“Oh, how sweet of you to bring them by to relive all those…gOoD mEmOrIeS.” Its voice suddenly turned more sinister, distortion increasing with each passing moment. Thomas instinctively took a step back.

“Please, like I’d bring that Thomas here after what you did to him. No, this is the Thomas from my world. He has no experience with you, but he’d still be able to take you down, even easier than the other one did.”

“YoU cAn’T kEeP mE dOwN hErE fOrEvEr. I’m St **RoNgEr ThAn YoU cOuLd PoSsIbLy ImAgInE. yOu JuSt GoT lUcKy LaSt TiMe.** **_YoU’lL sEe. YoU’lL aLl SeE!_** ”

The figure pressed up against the portrait’s surface, pounding against it with slick inky fists, but try as it might it couldn’t break through. It remained trapped inside its two dimensional prison. David watched it for a few moments before turning back around to leave. Once the others were out, he closed the door, and the knob disappeared once again.

“So you’ve had it locked in here ever since?” Thomas asked as they moved back down the hallway.

“Unfortunately, yeah. The thing about Embodiments is that once they reach this point, there’s little you can do to reason with them. Your only choice is to contain them.”

“Is there really nothing you can do to help them?” Patton asked, worry evident in his tone.

David sighed. “I’ve tried, many times. But when they get this far, they just won’t listen to you. I may be a cosmic guardian, but even my patience has limits. The best option for everyone is to keep them where they can’t harm themselves or others.”

Logan had been silent throughout their encounter, contemplating all that he’d heard and seen. Finally, he readdressed the issue that had started their discourse.

“So, barring unexpected interference, are moments when we are called or sent truly the only times we can interfere?”

“Well, they’re certainly the only times we can get directly involved. And even then you have to be careful about causing a greater disruption than the problem you’re there to fix. Especially with the potential to encounter alternate versions of yourself. That is never really a fun thing.”

Curiosity piqued, Logan pressed further. “Have you ever encountered an alternate version of yourself?”

“Actually, as far as I’m aware, I’m the only version of myself that exists in all of reality. Well, except for you-know-who,” he added, gesturing upward.

Logan looked puzzled. “But then how can you know what consequences can occur from encountering your alternate self?”

“While I don’t have any alternate selves to encounter, I have met myself from different points in my own life. When you’ve traveled as extensively as I have, it’s entirely possible to cross your own timeline, and I’ve managed to do so on more than a few occasions. It’s not quite the same, but it’s still pretty awkward, and usually doesn’t end well.

“With someone who is your alternate self, it would be even worse. So there’s really not much we can do in those situations.”

The group looked forlorn and that, but Patton, ever hopeful, raised a new point.

“Well, maybe there’s a way we can do it indirectly.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said yourself that we can’t get directly involved. Well, what if we found a way to get them to ask us for indirect help without them realizing it? The actual call for help would still be their choice. The only difference would be that we’re providing another alternative.”

The others perked up. Patton’s idea could be the key to helping their counterparts across reality. David pondered the idea for a moment.

“Well, it’s possible. But you’d have to find a way for them to surreptitiously reach out to us without realizing who we actually are. I don’t know how we could do that. I mean, it’s not like we could set up a hotline.”

David froze at his own words. The spark of an idea had appeared in his mind.

“Or could we?”

 

***********************

 

The following Saturday night found Thomas and the Sides outside a small building outside David’s Tower. On the outside, the only defining feature was the unusual array of satellite dishes and antennae on the roof. Thomas knocked a few times before David came out to welcome them in.

“I’m sorry it’s not quite done,” he apologized as he ushered them in. “I’ve only had a few days to get everything ready, and I haven’t managed to get the painting or interior design finished.”

“While aesthetics would quite possibly aid the center’s overall appeal, so long as the phone systems are fully functioning I doubt that many clients we have will be unsatisfied by our assistance,” Logan replied.

David briefly snorted at that as the last of them entered. He then stepped forward, spreading his arms as he gestured grandly about the room.

“Welcome to the Sanders Sides Support Center. A transdimensional hotline for all your Sanders Sides needs.”

The room was simple. The walls were almost entirely windows, allowing a view of David’s universe in almost every direction. A series of five desks with computers and phones was arranged in a circle facing outward from a single red phone in the center. A sixth station facing inward completed the circle and held the same holographic interface that David used in his office in lieu of a traditional computer.

“And you got this all up in just a few days?”

“Well, the interior set up was easy. Hooking up the receivers up top was the hard part. Do you have any idea how many frequencies are zooming around the cosmos that I had to account for?”

Thomas shook his head as he moved toward the circle. The others were already choosing their stations. Roman had picked the one in the middle, directly across from David’s desk. Virgil had opted for the one to David’s right, while Patton had chosen the next one in line, putting him between Virgil and Roman. Logan proceeded to claim the one on Roman’s other side, leaving the one on David’s left for Thomas.

“So, here’s how it all works. The antennae and dishes on top of the center work as a transdimensional receiver, picking up any calls made to our designated phone number, no matter where or when in reality the call is placed. The call is then redirected via complicated metaphysical processes to our phones whenever we are working here. And it makes sure that it’s redirected to whichever of the five of you it needs to go to for the best results. Unless it’s something that all of us need to deal with, in which case it goes to the red phone in the middle there.”

They all turned to look at it.

“It looks pretty ominous,” Virgil pointed out.

“That’s because it is quite ominous. That phone is reserved only for the most extreme cases, where it would take all six of us working together to deal with the problem.”

Not wanting to dwell on what kind of issues that sort of situation would elicit, Thomas changed the subject back to the matter at hand.

“So what do we do?”

“Simply put, once a week we’ll come to the center for the day, or night as it were. I’ll activate the receiver, and we’ll deal with whatever calls come through and help whoever’s on the other end with whatever is causing them trouble.”

“And that’s it?” Roman asked.

“Pretty much.”

“What if they inquire as to who we are?” Logan asked.

“I did consider that issue, and I have a cover.”

David pulled a handful of papers from his station and handed one to each of them. They quickly read it over.

“We’re going to claim that we’re part of their Thomas’ subconscious mind?” Virgil queried, looking unconvinced.

“Most of the time. We’ll probably just play it by ear, but I’m thinking that our official cover story will be that we are a sort of figment of their Thomas’ mind. A part of his subconscious that can act as a neutral party to help that Thomas’ sides work out their issues, which is kind of accurate in a roundabout sort of way from a certain point of view.”

The five of them looked between each other. Obviously they’d all only gotten about half of what he’d just said.

“In any case, we need to do our best to try and not worry them about how all of this actually works.”

Virgil shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, whatever.”

David smiled, then moved back over to his station.

“Alright, are we all set?”

“Affirmative.”

“Abso-posi-lutely!”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Of course.”

“Yep, ready to go.”

“Alright then, here we go.”

David flipped a switch on his station, and a low hum began to sound above them. For a few moments, nothing happened. But then the phone at Thomas’ station began to ring.

“Looks like we got our first caller,” David said. “You know what to do.”

Thomas nodded and activated his headset.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center....”


	2. Artistic License (or) A Different Lesson in “Paints”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Squick Warnings:  
> -Romantic Pairings:  
> \--Pre-Moxiety

Inspired by “[Paints](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13436241/chapters/30793800)” by [mystrangedarkson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystrangedarkson/pseuds/mystrangedarkson)

 

Roman wasn’t sure what to do.

Granted, he had been a little teasing when he’d discovered Virgil’s secret art room, but he hadn’t expected Virgil to react so negatively.

It disturbed him, actually, how much pain and frustration Virgil seemed to be carrying inside himself. And now it occurred to Roman that just because he and the others had thought that things between them and Virgil had improved since he’d revealed his name, that didn’t mean that he’d forgotten or let go of the pain he’d suffered at their hand.

 _At my hand_ , Roman thought to himself bitterly.

He briefly considered going to Patton, as the moral side would surely know what to do in this situation. But he didn’t want to betray Virgil any more than he already had. It was obvious that Virgil had no intention of telling anyone about his painting. And to make matters worse, Roman could feel the creative energies in Thomas’ mindscape working to destroy Virgil’s secret hobby and everything associated with it.

It broke his heart to think that Virgil was so afraid of what they might say about something that he had obviously put so much thought and passion into that he would rather destroy all trace of it than allow himself to be embarrassed and called out about it.

_Because of me._

Roman paced his room, thinking, and when that didn’t help he took off into his part of the imagination, into the vast kingdom he had created for himself to rule, desperately searching for something to distract himself from the pain, or at least come up with a creative solution. But nowhere in his kingdom was there an answer to his problem.

He eventually found himself in a secluded wood on the very edge of his kingdom, a place that was less to visit and more to help flesh out the atmosphere of his mental realm. He stopped and leaned against a half-formed tree, wondering just what in the world he could do to fix this.

Suddenly, he heard movement through the forest behind him. It sounded as though someone were walking through the trees, stopping occasionally to make a series of loud clicking noises and then continue on. He carefully peeked around the tree to investigate.

A young man, about the same age as Thomas, was making his way through the forest, carrying a roll of parchments. As Roman watched, he approached a tree, took one of the parchments out of the roll, spread it out on the trunk, and then used a stapler hanging from his belt to secure it to the tree before moving on to the next one. The sheer fact that someone would do something so damaging to the trees in his kingdom, even if they were only imaginary, was enough to spur Roman to confront him.

“Excuse me,” he called as he approached the young man, “but what do you think you’re doing?”

The young man turned, looking surprised.

“What? Oh, your highness. Sorry, I didn’t know you were out here. If I’d known you were nearby I would have made myself known to you.”

Roman ignored his excuses.

“I’ll ask you again, good sir, what are you doing, and why do you find it necessary to defile these trees?”

The young man looked taken aback.

“Defile? Oh, you mean me hanging these fliers up. Oh, your highness, I can assure you that I have taken every precaution to ensure that I am doing as little damage to these trees as I can. Here, I’ll show you.”

He pulled the stapler open and removed one of the staples, holding it out to the prince. Roman slowly reached out and took it, examining it for himself.

“This isn’t metal,” Roman noted, looking confused.

“Nope,” the young man clarified, “it’s a special material of my own invention. It’s made of tree sap and wood pulp, so that it’s sturdy enough to hold up the fliers while also being biodegradable and a natural salve and suture to help the tree heal after the flier has naturally deteriorated. There might be some minor scarring, but other than that the tree should be perfectly fine.”

“That is…quite ingenious,” Roman couldn’t help but comment. “How did you come up with this?”

“It’s actually an old recipe I came across years ago and improved for my own use.”

“Well, it’s good to see that you’ve taken the long term effects of your actions into account. But what are you doing hanging fliers all the way out here?”

“Well, something told me this was the right place to put up some of these fliers.”

“And what are they for?”

The young man’s face took on a strange, mysterious smile.

“Depends on what you’re looking for.”

The entire situation was becoming almost too much for Roman. This young man had obviously gone out of his way to spread the word about something, and yet couldn’t bring himself to tell his ruler directly. That was something that Roman would not stand for.

“I demand you, citizen, to tell me why it is that you are doing this.”

“Very well, Princey,” the man replied, looking just as smug as Virgil did as Roman balked at the nickname. “I’ll tell you. I am fulfilling my end of the deal. Wait…”

The young man suddenly looked confused before dawning realization spread across his face.

“Oh, no, that’s not what I’m doing. Sorry, twinning always messes with my head. Now, what was I doing? Oh, right, now I remember.

“I am closing the loop.”

“Closing the loop? What in the world are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry, it’ll all make sense eventually. And if it doesn’t, don’t worry about it. It’s not like it’ll affect anything for you, and it only needs to make sense to me and the people I work with.”

“What people? Who do you work with?"

“It’s all on the flier,” he stated like it was obvious, pointing to the one hanging just to Roman’s left.

“Anyway, I’ve got to get going. I have to hang the rest of these up in the next village over. So, see you later, your highness.”

He gave a quick two finger salute before walking off into the forest and disappearing from sight.

Roman stood there for a moment more before finally turning to actually read the flier. After reading it through, he pulled it off to look at it more closely.

“Sanders Sides Support Center? When did Thomas or I think this up?”

 

***********************

 

Roman paced his room, desperately trying to work up the courage to hit the call button on his phone. He’d typed in the number from the crumpled flier almost ten minutes ago, and yet hadn’t managed to make himself make the call.

“Come on, Roman, what are you waiting for? You’ve faced down dragon witches. Why are you scared of making a stupid phone call?”

Because that was the truth. He was scared. Scared that this “Support Center” wouldn’t be able to help him, or that he’d end up messing up the advice they gave him, or that they’d immediately label him as horrible for what he did.

That was the problem with having an active imagination: any and all scenarios became possible if one thought hard enough, even the bad ones that made no sense.

But he couldn’t let himself think that. He was a prince, and a prince was willing to face even the toughest dangers to help those in need.

So with determination in his heart, he finally pushed send and put the phone to ear, listening as it rang.

 

***********************

 

Virgil’s phone began to ring, and he grumbled at it in response.

He’d been through ten different calls in the last half hour, and he was really starting to get peeved. He hated working hard, and this definitely counted as such. It also wasn’t fair that the others’ phones rarely went off. Logan, Thomas, and Patton had had fewer than a dozen since they started, and Roman was probably only on his second or third call at this point.

But he reminded himself that he’d willingly volunteered to be a part of this, so he pushed down the annoyance and answered the call.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Virgil. How can I help you?

The other side of the line stayed quiet for a moment before a confused yet still somehow regal voice spoke up.

“ _Virgil? You work for this…’Center’ thing?_ ”

Virgil rolled his eyes before picking up the sheet David had handed him with plausible explanations.

“I’m not your Virgil,” he recited. “I’m a part of Thomas’ subconscious set up to help his sides in times of need. I have simply taken the voice of Virgil to best help you with your situation.”

There was silence for a few moments. But just when Virgil began to think the creative side on the other end had hung up, he responded.

“ _Fair enough I suppose._ ”

Virgil smirked to himself at that.

“Anyway, what can I help you with?”

“ _Well, it’s somewhat…complicated. You see, I found out Virgil has this secret room where he paints, and from what I could tell, he was pretty good at it. But when I found him in there, he wasn’t very happy that I discovered his secret, and I may have made a quip that set him off. He threw me out of the room and then destroyed all of his paintings and the room._

“ _I thought we were getting better, getting closer. He told us his name, he started hanging out with us more. I thought we’d moved past everything. I’d…I’d never realized how much pain he still felt from all those years of rejection by us. By me._ ”

Virgil could hear the pain and self-revulsion in Roman’s voice. If the story of his alternate self’s pain wasn’t enough, hearing the hurt it was causing this Roman to feel was just about enough to cause his eyes to water. But he had a job to do, so he sucked it up and got to work.

“Hey, Roman, listen to me.”

He heard a sniff in reply.

“There’s no denying the fact that all of you have a lot of baggage to work out, but a lot of that is already being taken care of. You need to forgive yourself for what you did, just as he is learning to forgive you for it too.

“As for the painting thing, he’s probably scared that you’ll make fun of him for it and reject him again. And before you say anything, yes, that’s not a rational thought. But anxiety isn’t always rational, just like creativity isn’t always rational. You too are more similar than either of you are willing to admit.”

A huff on the other end told him Roman was begrudgingly agreeing with him.

“You need to show him that you won’t make fun of him for his artistic outlets. You have to let him know he can trust you with this. Then he’ll be willing to open up to you about it.”

These was silence for a moment. Then Roman responded.

“ _You’re right. I need to show him that what he has to offer won’t just be rejected, but would be loved. Not just because it is good, but because we’re his family, and we’ll love him and his creations no matter what._ ”

“That’s the ticket, Princey.”

“ _Thank you. Thank you so much._ ”

And with that he hung up.

 

***********************

 

A knock at Virgil’s door startled him out of his brooding. He went to answer it, and his heart did a somersault at the sight of Patton on the other side.

“Hey there, kiddo. We were hoping you’d come and help us with something.”

“Uh, sure, yeah, I can do that.”

“Oh, great!”

Patton grabbed his hand and pulled him off to the commons. Virgil felt himself blushing at the touch, but kept himself under control enough to not let it show. Besides, he figured, whatever was going on probably wasn’t that big a deal. Or so he thought until he saw the cans of paint on the floor in the emptied common room.

“Ah, Padre, you’re here. And I see you brought Finding Emo with you. Excellent.”

“What’s going on?” Virgil asked, trying to hide his anxiousness over the paints.

“Well, I was thinking we could try something new, and it occurred to me that the walls of the commons are just so boring. So, I decided that we could all try repainting them.”

Roman held up a bucket of paint in each hand. Virgil took one look at him and called out, “Pass.”

“Oh, come on, Virge. I really want to do this together, as a family.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun!”

Virgil considered this for a moment, then said, “Nope, still not interested.”

“Come on, kiddo,” Patton said, grabbing Virgil’s shoulder, which caused Virgil’s heart to flutter. “Won’t you try it with us? Please?”

Virgil really wanted to skip out on this. He knew Roman was only doing this because he’d seen Virgil’s secret room. But try as he might, there was no way he could say no to Patton.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

Patton squealed and hugged him, and Virgil did his best not to let the blush show. Though if it wasn’t for his pale foundation, it just might have.

“Very well then,” Logan said, looking about as ready to leave as Virgil felt. “What color are we painting the walls?”

“Actually, I was thinking we could try just painting whatever we wanted. I figured if we don’t like it, we can always paint over it with a solid color and call it done.”

“Hmm, that does seem satisfactory. Very well, I will give it a try.”

“That’s the spirit, Logan.”

Soon each of them had been assigned a wall, and after a brief struggle over paint availability, there were off. For the most part, they were left to their own devices. But every so often, Roman would do a round to see how the others were faring.

Logan’s wall was mostly painted with basic shapes and colors, though every so often a bit of creative flow would leak through, mostly in the form of artistic depictions of mathematical and chemical formulas.

Roman’s own wall had the beginnings of a grand fantasy landscape, complete with dark woods and a gleaming castle, and various fantasy and fairy tale characters, not to mention a number of overt Disney references.

Patton’s was the most abstract. It mostly consisted of big splashes of paint in blobby shapes punctuated by little doodles of cats and dogs and other cute animals. It even had a small depiction of the four of them and Thomas, looking happy.

But Virgil had barely even started on his. There were only a few vague outlines, nothing substantial yet. He was too anxious about actually trying to paint. As Roman came around to have another look, he pulled him close to confront him.

“Why are we doing this, Princey?”

“Because it’s fun.”

“No. Why are we really doing this? Are you just trying to make fun of me in front of the others again?”

Roman’s grin disappeared, and a serious frown took its place.

“Virgil, believe it or not, I thought your paintings looked amazing. I should have been a little more sensitive in how I talked about it, but I never thought it was stupid or bad. I actually thought it looked great, and I was so happy to have someone else who puts so much effort into their creations.”

Virgil was at a loss. He’d never expected someone else to actually like his art.

“You…you really thought it looked…good?”

“I thought it looked fantastic.”

Virgil almost smiled.

“But…but what about…about the others?”

“I think they’d like it too. Especially Patton.”

Virgil felt his cheeks heating up again.

“What…what do you mean?”

“Come on, Virge, I know that look. You like him, a lot.”

“I…so what if I do? What does it matter?”

“Well, considering how much he likes you, I’d say it matters quite a bit.”

Virgil could feel his heart soaring at the news, but he knew he couldn’t actually expect anything to come of it. He was Anxiety. No one liked anxiety.

“Patton would, if you gave him a chance.”

Virgil hadn’t even realized he’d spoken aloud.

“But if this is about you not feeling comfortable doing it in front of us, don’t worry, I have a plan.”

Roman walked away before Virgil could ask. He watched as Roman picked up some of the paint cans and made to walk over to his own wall, but then he seemed to trip on something, causing two of the cans to fly off to either side of the room, spilling their contents all over Logan and Patton. Roman himself was completely soaked in paint as well.

“Well, that’s why we don’t wear our good clothes when working with paint,” Roman said loudly. “Why don’t we go get cleaned up. Virgil, you can stay here and keep working if you’d like, we’ll be back once we’re cleaned up.”

Logan made as if to protest, but Roman’s firm grip on his shoulder made it impossible for him to argue as he and Patton were led down the hall.

Virgil, now alone, looked back over what he’d done so far. He could already see the potential for what it could be, and without the pressure of the others there to watch, he could paint whatever he wanted and then cover it up with another coat before any of them saw it.

Grabbing the unspilled cans and bringing them over to his wall, he set to work.

He wasn’t sure how long he kept at it, but time never really mattered to him once he was in the zone. He worked tirelessly, carefully placing each stroke just right on his canvas. Stroke after stroke, color after color, he poured his heart out onto the wall. Once he was finally done, he stepped back to take it all in.

He’d painted a simple scene in his own style: the four of them with Thomas in the commons, watching a movie. Logan was questioning the movie’s logic. Roman was arguing back. Thomas was laughing at the screen. And Virgil and Patton were sitting close together, sharing a bowl of popcorn between them, Virgil’s arm around Patton’s shoulders.

“Oh my goodness.”

Virgil started. He hadn’t heard anyone come back. Whipping around, he saw the other three staring at his wall, and his anxiety spiked.

“I…I…”

Patton came up to him. “Kiddo, you did this?”

Virgil tried to speak, but couldn’t make any words form. He finally closed his eyes in shame and nodded his head.

“Virgil, I love it.”

His head shot up. Patton was beaming. It almost shorted out his brain.

“You…you do?”

“I really do.”

“Indeed,” Logan chimed in, moving closer as well. “You have quite a talent for combining style with imagery to invoke not only a scene, but the emotion behind it as well. It is quite well done.”

“Well, thank you.”

Roman simply smiled at him as Patton continued to marvel at his wall and Logan moved off to finish his own.

“I…I don’t know what to say,” Virgil finally said.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Roman replied. “It’s the least I could do after what happened.”

Virgil smiled and nodded his head.

“Hey Virgil?” Patton called. “Can you come here?”

Virgil moved over to stand next to Patton, who was examining the scene more closely.

“Are you and I…cuddling in this picture?”

“We…uh…we can be,” Virgil replied, noncommittedly.

“Well, I think it would be real nice if we were,” Patton remarked, his cheeks tinted pink.

Virgil’s own cheeks were starting to heat up again.

“Well, maybe on the next movie night…we could…give it a try?” he suggested. Patton lit up slightly before he pulled himself back down.

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds…that sounds good.”

Virgil smiled.

As the two continued to talk about Virgil’s work, Roman watched from his own wall. He was rather proud of himself for thinking of this idea to get Virgil to realize the truth, but he was even prouder of Virgil for being willing to put himself out there, if only just a little. Suddenly remembering where the idea had originally come from, he pulled out his phone, and this time had no trouble calling that number.

 

***********************

 

“So do you think that’s going to help?” Patton asked.

“I think so,” Virgil replied, leaning back in his chair. “It’s what I’d want our Roman to do if we were ever in that situation.”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Virgil’s phone going off. He sat up to answer it as Patton moved back to his own station.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Virgil. How can I help you?”

“ _Hey, uh, Virgil? It’s Roman again._ ”

Virgil tensed. He’d only had one call from a Roman so far. Trying to keep his cool, he responded with a simple, “Yes?”

“ _I, uh, I just wanted to thank you for that advice you gave me. It really helped, like, a lot._ ”

Virgil could feel the uncertainty inside himself dissipate, almost immediately to be replaced by the somewhat unfamiliar feelings of pride and self-assurance.

“Well, you’re welcome.”

“ _I mean, I really don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t come across that guy in my kingdom hanging up those flyers for your center._ ”

Virgil took pause at that, but kept up his façade as he replied.

“Hey, we may have given you the advice, but you were the one who was trying to help your friend. All we did was push you in the right direction.”

“ _Nevertheless, I fear I might not have gone in the right direction had you not pointed it out in the first place._ ”

Virgil had to concede that point. “Fair enough, Princey.”

Roman chuckled. “ _Well, I’d best get going. A prince’s work is never done, after all._ ”

Virgil snorted at that. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Roman huffed playfully at that.

“ _In all seriousness, though, thank you, for everything._ ”

Virgil smiled. “No problem, Roman.”

The two hung up, and Virgil leaned back in his chair again. He was glad he’d managed to help out. But something Roman had said was still nagging at the back of his mind. Finally, he turned to David to ask.

“Hey, uh, just a random thought here. How are they getting our number?”

David looked up from his station, where something was printing. “Well, I’ve already scattered a bunch of business cards for the center through the Collective Unconscious, which should let them filter into the alternate Thomases’ mindscapes. But I realized that might not work for Roman’s alternates’ kingdoms, since he usually keeps his pretty neat and orderly.”

“A prince must ensure that his kingdom is of the highest quality, after all,” Roman called from his own station before resuming with his current call.

“In that case, I’ve got some flyers I’m preparing to hang up in those kingdoms so they’ll have that resource in a place they’ll likely go to in times of crisis.”

David held one up for Virgil to see.

“Ah. I was just wondering ‘cause the Roman I just talked to said he found some guy hanging up flyers for the center in his kingdom, and that’s how he got the number.”

David froze. Then after a moment he face palmed.

“Oh great, another time loop. That’s always fun.”

“What?”

“A time loop. Well, technically speaking, because it involves two separate spacetime continuums, the fact that he’s seen them before I hung up the flyers shouldn’t be a time loop. But now that I know it’s already happened, it is, so I need to go back and close the loop.”

He began to gather up the stack of flyers.

“Thomas, you’re in charge until I get back.”

“Back?” Thomas asked distractedly. “Back from where?”

“A time loop is in progress and I need to go close it. Stupid temporal paradoxes. The only thing that would make this more frustrating is if the universe twinned.”

“Twinned?” Logan asked, having tuned in at David’s shout.

“Sometimes when I enter a universe it splits in two, creating two nearly identical offspring universes: one that I interact with, and one that’s like I never interfered. It always leaves me a little muddled in the brain.”

“Would you say it leaves you feeling…loopy?” Patton put in.

Thomas and David both giggled. Logan groaned. Virgil smirked and tried to hold back his chuckling. Roman wasn’t paying attention, as he still had a caller.

“Anyway, I’ve gotta go. I’ll be back soon.”

The others exchanged glances as he left. Finally, Roman’s call ended, and he swung around in celebration. Seeing their faces, he stopped spinning.

“Did I miss something?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note:
> 
> The twinning concept is one I came up with years ago to explain how this character I created could actually interact with and change other worlds without altering canon. I ended up having to use the concept here because mystrangedarkson wrote a second part to the original story before I was able to post this.
> 
> So you could call this an alternate ending of sorts.


	3. A Matter of Opinion (or) Some Comfort for his “Favorite”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -Mentions of Deceit  
>   
> Squick Warnings:  
> -Romantic Pairings:  
> \--Logicality

Inspired by “[My Favorite Blueberry](http://my-happy-little-bean.tumblr.com/post/170626761081/fun-angst-prompt-that-i-found-on-tumblr-probably)” by [my-happy-little-bean](http://my-happy-little-bean.tumblr.com/)

 

The days following Logan’s confession were filled with despair. Logan rarely left his room, too afraid of how Patton must feel about him to be willing to face him. Virgil had gone even quieter, taking more and more trips to the subconscious to keep an eye out for trouble. Roman had tried his best to reassure Patton that everything would be okay, but nothing seemed to cheer up the remorseful father figure.

It had been bad enough when Deceit’s deception had put them all on edge, but Logan’s breakdown after accidentally assuming Patton was the lying side in disguise again was pushing them to their limits. They weren’t even sure that they could ever recover from this.

A week after the incident, Roman finally decided to take a more direct approach, and went to talk to Patton in his room.

“Hey there, Padre,” he called, treading carefully as he entered his room. “How’s it going?”

Patton was sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by memorabilia from Thomas’ past. He was holding his new cat hoodie in his hands, staring ahead forlornly.

Roman made his way over and sat next to him, remaining silent as he settled in. After a few minutes where Patton barely even acknowledged his presence, he spoke up.

“Look, Pat, I know that things aren’t going so well, and I know that usually we just soldier through these things until it gets better. But I really don’t think it’s the best idea to just let something like this linger. We really need to take care of this. We all know this isn’t healthy for us or for Thomas.”

“But what can we do? Deceit used me to get to you guys and Thomas. How am I supposed to be the one to sort it all out when I’m partially responsible for it?”

“You are not responsible for this, Patton. Deceit is to blame for all of this. And you were the one who kept Thomas from falling for his tricks by still shining through him when he was tempted to do what Deceit wanted.”

Patton shrugged in reply.

“Listen, I know I’m the last person to suggest something like this, but I think we need some help to sort this out.”

Patton looked up at him. “Like a professional? Like Thomas’ Dr. Picani character?”

“Yes, except someone that’s not just acting like a therapist. Someone who could really help us figure all this out.”

“But who? Usually Logan’s the one who keeps us from becoming too emotional about stuff. But now he’s the one who’s most affected. And we can’t go see an actual therapist.”

Roman was at a loss for how to respond, but a sudden noise from the doorway drew their attention.

Virgil was standing at the door, looking sheepish.

“Sorry, I was coming to talk to you and the door was open…”

“It’s okay, kiddo, come on in here.”

Virgil came in and sat down in front of them.

“I heard what Roman was talking to you about, and I think I know a way that we can get the help we need.”

Virgil pulled a small card out of his pocket.

“I found this the last time I was walking through the subconscious. I was bringing it here to show you.”

He handed it over to Patton, who held it so Roman could read it with him.

“A Sanders Sides Support Center?” Roman read off. What is that?”

“I don’t know, but it sounded like it could help us sort this mess out. I just figured…”

Patton reached out to grab Virgil’s shoulder.

“I think it sounds like a great idea, kiddo.”

He reached behind him to pick up his phone.

“Wait,” Roman suddenly said. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do it with Logan. He needs this even more than we do.”

Patton hesitated, but then nodded. And with that, the three of them got up and headed for Logan’s room.

 

***********************

 

Logan sat up straight in his chair. Proper posture was key to maintaining good back health, after all.

He’d been doing rather well, though he felt that he hadn’t had as many calls as the others. But this was the first day, so it was possible that the number of calls each of them received would vary from one week to the next.

His ruminations on call frequency were interrupted as his phone began to ring. He quickly moved to answer it.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Logan. How can I help you?”

 

***********************

 

“I do not see how this will help us,” Logan complained. “I am perfectly fine.”

“Falsehood,” Virgil shot back as he tried to get comfortable on Logan’s floor.

The three of them had convinced Logan to let them into his room, at which point they all gathered on the floor with a begrudging Logan to make the call.

“You have been hiding in here ever since that morning,” Roman said. “It’s never a good thing when any of the rest of us do that. Why would it be okay if you did it?”

Logan, unfortunately, couldn’t fault their logic. And in truth, they were right. He was not doing well at all. But he had to be the strong one. He was Logic. He could not allow emotions to cloud his ability to help Thomas.

“We’re doing this, Logan,” Patton declared, dialing the number into his phone. “You’re not the only one who needs this.”

He finished dialing and hit the call button, activating the speaker and setting the phone down between them. Logan crossed his arms in frustration, but made no further complaint. After a few dials, someone picked up.

“ _Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Logan. How can I help you?_ ”

“Wow, it even sounds like Logan,” Roman remarked.

“ _I can assure you that I am merely a projection of Thomas’ subconscious mind, designed to help in case of imbalances between—_ “

“Yeah, yeah, you’re here to help, whatever,” Virgil interrupted. “Let’s just get to this, okay?”

The speaker on the other end sounded put off at being interrupted, but he continued soon enough.

“ _Very well. What is it that I can help you with today?_ ”

“Well, recently Thomas had this…moral dilemma…about lying,” Roman began.

There was a pause. Then the speaker replied.

“ _I see. Would it be correct to assume that an encounter with Deceit was involved?_ ”

“Yes. He…he disguised himself as Patton to try and convince Thomas that lying was the best course of action.”

Logan was already growing stiffer. Patton was looking remorseful. Virgil was already picking at his sleeves. Only Roman seemed put together enough to continue as the speaker replied.

“ _And you were able to stop Deceit before he threw Thomas’ moral compass out of alignment?_ ”

“Yes, but we’re…we’re still feeling the effects of his actions. Particularly in regards to the things he said.”

“ _I see. Was there anything specific he said that was particularly triggering?_ ”

“Not at the moment he said it. But while he was disguising himself as Patton, he called Logan… he called him…”

“He called me the favorite side,” Logan finally spoke.

The speaker didn’t respond for a moment.

“ _I am uncertain that I understand the context of this statement._ ”

“He called me the favorite, and I thought it was Patton saying it,” he shouted as he got up to pace. “To hear it from Patton, that meant…that meant so much to me. But then it turned out it was just Deceit, and we all know he lies about everything. Because I’m not the favorite side. We all know I’m the least popular character in the Sanders Sides videos. I’ve accepted that fact.

“But to hear Patton, my dear Patton say it, well that meant so much. Because it made me think that I might be…”

“ _That you might be…what?_ ”

“That you might be my favorite?” Patton asked as he got up to meet Logan.

Logan paused in his pacing and turned away from the group, holding himself.

“I just…I just thought that…that maybe…maybe if I was your favorite…that that would be enough.”

“Oh, Logan…”

Patton came up behind him, pulling him into a hug.

“ _I believe I understand now. Deceit’s impersonation of Patton, and said impersonation being later revealed, left you feeling betrayed because of your feelings for Patton._ ”

“That’s only part of it,” Virgil put in.

“ _What else has happened?_ ”

“A few days after the incident with Deceit, Patton was making breakfast and called Logan his favorite. And Logan assumed that Deceit was pretending to be Patton again. So he attacked him.”

There was a moment of silence as the speaker considered this. The only sound was Patton’s sniffing as he continued to cling to Logan, whose own tears were falling in silence.

“ _So it would be safe to assume that Logan is currently feeling both as if he has been betrayed and that he has betrayed Patton with his assumptions._ ”

Roman and Virgil watched as Logan gave a brief nod.

“Yes.”

“ _Then I think what needs to happen is that Logan needs to apologize for his assumption, but that he must also explain why he is feeling these things to Patton. He may be Logic, but his feelings are not invalid. In fact, his might be even more important, simply because he does not always understand them._ ”

The group considered this in silence. Then Logan pulled himself out of Patton’s hold, but grabbed Patton’s hands as he turned around to face him.

“Patton, you are an amazing individual. You understand things that I can only begin to comprehend. You complement me in so many ways. So when I thought you had said that to me, I assumed it meant that I…I might have a chance with you.

“But when the truth was revealed, I felt so betrayed that I was willing to lash out to protect myself. And that led to me hurting you. I can understand if you don’t feel the same way about me, but I can no longer deny that I…I have very strong…feelings for you.”

Logan bowed his head. Patton reached up to wipe the tears from his eyes before lifting his chin so he could see his eyes.

“Logan, I’m always loved you. You’re so smart and clever. And you’re not afraid to speak your mind. You keep us grounded when we start to get out of control. And you always know what to say to help us figure things out. I wasn’t being silly when I said you were my hero. You really are. Because you’re not afraid to be you. No matter what others might think, you are always yourself.”

The two stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, then they both moved in for a kiss.

It started out as simple, pleasant, and then it became a bit more animated, at which point the call center guy decided to speak up.

“C _ould...could someone fill me in as to what is happening?_ ”

“Sorry, but we’re probably going to have to cut it off there,” Roman replied, picking up the phone as he and Virgil began to move toward the door. “They’re going to be a little…occupied for a while. But don’t worry, if we need you again, we’ll just call. Okay, bye.”

And with that he hung up and placed the phone next to the door as Virgil closed it behind them, completely unnoticed by the newly minted couple.

 

***********************

 

Logan was somewhat perturbed at the call’s abrupt end. But considering the alternative, he was grateful that he wouldn’t hear what his counterpart might be doing after his and his Patton’s confessions. He disconnected his end of the line and leaned back in his chair, consumed by thought.

It seemed to him that insecurity was a common factor amongst their alternate selves. Considering their own Thomas dealt with it on a regular basis, this came as little surprise. But the thought of how much his alternate self had been affected by his Thomas’ encounter with Deceit made him wonder about his own feelings.

It was true that he was unlikely to be the most popular of Thomas sides, and long ago he thought he had accepted that fact. He was after all rather disconnected from the average fander, with his advanced knowledge and need to give exposition. And his emotional understanding left much to be desired compared to a fan base so in touch with its feelings. He had always known that he was least likely to be the favorite.

But the idea of being disliked, whereas before had been simply a fact of life, now felt…off somehow. It left him feeling…alone? No, not quite. Forgotten? No, getting less accurate. Unworthy? Close, but not quite adequate. Wait, adequate. _In_ -adequate? Ah ha! Inadequate! That was the word. He was feeling inadequate.

The euphoria of finding the perfect descriptor faded quickly, and left him with that feeling of inadequacy. After all, he was just the smart one. He didn’t bring anything else to the table.

Wait, that wasn’t true.

But it felt like it was true.

Realizing this, he turned to the others, who were waiting for their next callers.

“Pardon, me, but might I ask for some assistance?”

The others looked up, caught off-guard. Thomas responded first.

“Sure, Logan, what’s up?”

“I feel that my emotions have become heightened due to my last call, and I fear that I am becoming susceptible to cognitive distortions. Would it perhaps be possible to discuss the issue with you so as to deter myself from further negative thinking?”

The other five exchanged looks before David nodded and flipped the off switch on the main panel. He pulled his chair over to sit next to Logan as the others moved theirs to form a circle with them. Once they were situated, Thomas spoke up.

“Okay, Logan. Do you want to start by telling us what happened?”

Logan nodded and began to explain, occasionally having to be reminded not to stray into tangents as he relayed the story of his call.

“And after they hung up, I found myself contemplating my own place in our group, and began to experience negative thoughts pertaining to myself. I…fear that I am becoming susceptible to cognitive distortions. What can I do about this?”

The others were quiet for a moment. Then David spoke up.

“If you don’t mind my asking, are these feelings something you’ve felt in the past? Or is this just something that was triggered purely by this call?”

Logan took a moment to reflect on his past thoughts.

“It would not be…inaccurate to say that I…may have felt these…same feelings previously.”

“Then I would say that the first thing you need to do is admit that this feeling of ‘inadequacy’ is one of your long-term insecurities.”

Logan considered this, then took a deep breath.

“I feel…insecure about my place in this group.”

David smiled. “That’s good. Admitting that something is wrong is always the first step to making it right.”

“What would the next step be?”

“In this case,” Thomas joined in, “it’s learning to recognize the problem when it happens and to ask for help. But the fact that you did so just now means that you’ve already got that step down.”

Thomas offered an encouraging smile, and Logan couldn’t help but give a small appreciative one in return.

“And now that you have, here’s how we can help,” David continued. “We can show you how you have no reason to worry about where you stand with us. You’re family.   And family helps each other. Which is what you do with us every day.”

“Yeah,” Patton jumped in. “You make sure we stay on task and keep us focused on what’s important. Knowing how spontaneous Roman and I can be, that’s not easy.”

“It’s true,” Roman agreed. “You also make sure the ideas we create make sense, and help to figure out how best to complete what tasks we have to accomplish. After all, even the most accomplished royal would fall flat on his face without his trusted advisors to assist him.”

“The three of us can be more…emotionally charged,” Virgil began. “And it’s okay to have emotions, even for you. But when the three of us start to get too out of hand, you’re the one who keeps us grounded. You keep me grounded.”

“He’s right,” Thomas confirmed. “You keep me centered, and make sure I don’t go too far in any one direction. We, I, would be lost without you.”

Logan didn’t know what to say. Objectively he had already known all of this. But that same part that had felt the inadequacy before was now filled with love and appreciation for the five people in front of him. It was almost too much to handle or express.

Almost.

Logan sniffed once, and a single tear leaked from his eye as he offered the biggest smile they’d ever seen him wear.

“Thank you. I will do my best to remember this the next time I have those inadequate feelings.”

“That’s all any of us can do,” Thomas said, reaching out to grasp Logan’s shoulder. “And if you find you can’t quite keep them at bay, you can always come to us.”

Logan nodded his head in response. David nodded his own in reply before getting up and heading back to his station. The others flashed their own encouraging looks before moving back to their places. Logan turned back around as the low hum of the receivers above started again.

Objectively Logan knew that this did not change the fact that he had these insecurities. But he also knew how to deal with them in future. And if ever he needed help, he could always ask his family to assist him. And with that thought leaving a smile on his face, he pulled on his headset and prepared for his next call.


	4. Mending the Tears (or) How Love Beats “Scissors”

Inspired by “[Scissors and Christmas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13874556)” by [treechild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treechild/pseuds/treechild)

 

Virgil had half a mind not to leave his room the day after Christmas. But the thought of what he’d done to Roman had haunted him all night. Sure, he was in the wrong for wanting to change who Virgil was, but in hindsight he probably didn’t deserve to have all his hard work ruined like that, or for Virgil to blow up at him that way. So he went out to apologize.

But Roman wasn’t in the commons when he came down. No one was. So he continued to the kitchen.

The decorations were all still up, and Virgil stopped on his way to admire the tree. Roman had been right. Spreading the decorations around, spacing and alternating between different types really did make it look better. He could see how what he had been doing with them wouldn’t have looked quite as good.

 _He still shouldn’t have been so rude about it,_ he thought bitterly, but there was much less bite to it than there had been when it had happened. He pushed that realization down and continued to the kitchen.

Roman wasn’t in the kitchen either. But Logan and Patton were, each nursing a steaming mug. They looked up as Virgil entered, but said nothing and returned to staring at their cups. Virgil paused, unsure how to take the looks they gave him, before addressing them.

“Hey, um, have you guys seen Roman? I…I need to talk to him about…about something.”

Patton looked up at him.

“He’s staying in his room today. I already tried to get him up for breakfast, but he said he wasn’t hungry.”

Virgil wasn’t sure how to take that, though something in his gut that felt like guilt started clawing at him.

“Might I inquire as to what you wished to speak to him about?” Logan asked.

“I just…I just need to talk to him.”

Logan and Patton exchanged looks before Logan turned back to Virgil.

“You may need to wait. He…hasn’t been feeling well since…since yesterday morning.”

Virgil’s stomach turned. He was afraid of that, afraid that Roman would have taken his…overreaction too hard. But he also knew that he couldn’t just go into his room and talk to him. His own anxiety would go through the roof at that, and he wasn’t about to subject Roman to Monstrous Anxiety after what he’d said.

After contemplating all this, he nodded at the two sides and made his way back to his room. He’d try again tomorrow.

 

***********************

 

Tomorrow turned out to be just as fruitless. As did the day after that, and the day after that. For a solid week, Roman stayed cooped up in his room. Not even the prospect of a New Year’s party at a friend’s house was enough to coax him out.

As bad as it was for Virgil, Thomas was also not faring well. He’d been in a creative slump ever since Virgil’s outburst, much to his and Joan’s frustration. They needed to get started on making plans for videos in the New Year. And Roman was vital to that process. But now he was refusing to do any sort of creative work, leaving Thomas with nothing to work on.

With the effects on Thomas becoming so pronounced, Virgil could feel the guilt increasing. He knew he needed to do something to fix it. But actually going into Roman’s room seemed unlikely, as Virgil had yet to gather the courage to knock.

Then he remembered something Roman had mentioned once. Roman had a direct pathway from his room to Thomas’ imagination, allowing him to slip in there whenever he needed to work something out. If Roman could get through to the imagination from his room, then maybe Virgil could get through to his room from the imagination. It was so simple.

At least on paper it was. In practice, not so much.

“But I need to speak to him. It’s urgent.”

“I’m sorry, but Prince Roman has made his orders quite clear. He will receive no visitors until further notice.”

Virgil had half a mind to go off on this guard, but the other half of his mind just wanted to kick himself. He should have known that Roman would have thought of the back door into his room, and had the guards at his castle in the imagination bar anyone from getting in that way. With the prospect of him overpowering the guards to get through looking very slim, he skulked away.

There had to be some way he could fix this. He just wished he knew how.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a flyer blown into his face by a gust of wind. He ripped it off and was about to throw it away when he saw what was written on it. He looked it over.

“’Sanders Sides Support Center’,” he read aloud. Just the name sounded helpful. He supposed it could be worth a shot. So he folded it up and placed it in his pocket before heading back to his own room.

 

***********************

 

Roman was lounging back in his chair, feeling particularly proud of himself after his latest call. Not to brag, but he was pretty sure he’d just given what was undoubtedly the best bit of advice that caller had ever received. His self-congratulations however were interrupted by his phone ringing once more. Eager to continue his lucky streak, he answered it.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Roman. How can I help you?”

There was silence for a moment, then…

“ _Roman? You work for the call center? I’m sorry, this was a mistake. I’m hanging up._ ”

“Wait, Virgil, don’t hang up!”

“ _Why? So I can hear how much I hurt you? How much you hate me now?_ ”

“Virgil, I’m not Roman.”

“ _Heh, you coulda fooled me._ ”

“No, I mean, I’m not _your_ Roman.”

“ _…I don’t get it._ ”

“Okay, let me put it like this. I’m a part of Thomas’ subconscious set up to help his sides when they’re dealing with really bad issues. I’ve taken on Roman’s voice and mannerisms because that’s what you need right now to deal with whatever your issue is.”

There was a long pregnant pause. Finally, Virgil responded.

“ _So you don’t know what I did?_ ”

“No, I don’t. But if you want to tell me, I might be able to help you figure out the best way to move forward.”

Another pause.

“ _Alright, but no funny business._ ”

“On my word as a prince, I swear I shall be all business.”

“ _Yeah, whatever. Anyway, here’s the deal._

“ _So Roman’s been trying really hard to make me feel more…included with the group ever since I tried to duck out and told everyone my name. He invited me to movie night, he let me help decorate the Christmas tree, and he even got me a custom hoodie as a present._ ”

“Well that all sounds very good.”

“ _Yeah, you’d think so. Except he criticized my distaste for those Disney Prince movies, he said I wasn’t doing a good job with the ornaments, and the hoodie was white with little happy messages all over it. It’s like he wanted me to be more like the Virgil he wants me to be, and not the Virgil I am. It’s like he’s trying to change me. But you can’t change me to be something I’m not._ ”

“Very true.”

“ _Anyway, after he gave me the hoodie, I kinda…lost it. I…took a pair of scissors and…destroyed it._ ”

Roman stifled a gasp.

“ _And then to top it off, I yelled at him about what he was doing was wrong and not wanted. I…over reacted._ ”

“Well, at least you admit that you were somewhat in the wrong.”

“ _But he shouldn’t have been trying to change me in the first place. I am who I am, and there’s nothing he can do to change that._ ”

“Well, how did he respond to…what happened?”

“ _I don’t know. I ran off after that and hid in my room until the next day. He hasn't left his room since then. It's been over a week. Thomas has been in a creative slump ever since. Roman refuses to talk to me. I can’t even get to him in his kingdom in the imagination._ ”

Roman nodded his head. “It sounds to me like he didn’t take it very well.”

“ _Yeah, but I’m the victim here. I’m the one he was trying to manipulate into changing._ ”

Roman thought for a moment. “Maybe. It’s possible that he considered trying to change you to make you more…acceptable to his desires. I know I certainly might have considered it a possibility at one point.”

Roman turned around in his chair, and locked eyes with Virgil, who was watching intently. “But if he’s really accepted you, then maybe it’s not so much that he’s trying to change who you are, but is just trying to bring a little more light into your world. If he’s come to know you for who you are, then maybe instead of trying to change you, he’s just trying to show you how much you mean to him.”

Virgil smiled at him before turning back to his own phone, which had started to ring. Roman smiled himself as he turned back around and waited for the Virgil on the phone to respond.

“ _Maybe you’re right. But that doesn’t fix my problem. I need to know how I can make it up to him for…blowing up like that. I need some way to…to get our relationship heading in the right direction again._ ”

“Well, obviously you need to start by apologizing to him. Nothing else you do is going to matter if he still thinks you think you did nothing wrong.”

“ _I guess, but he won’t even listen to me._ ”

“Then you need to make him listen. Go to his room, force your way in if you have to. Do whatever it takes to get him to listen.”

“ _And even if I do that, how am I going to make him believe me?_ ”

Roman paused for a moment. Then an idea struck him.

“Virgil, do you remember what Roman said about getting a romantic partner in Thomas’ Valentines’ Day video?”

“ _Yeah, he said to find whatever is causing your potential partner pain and kill it in an epic battle. How does that help?_ ”

“Well, if there actually is something to kill in that regard that would definitely work.”

“ _Sure, keep telling yourself that._ ”

“But more importantly, he said that he uses grand gestures to express his love. He shows his love for others through gifts or acts of service. Like the love languages.”

“ _Okay, still not sure where you’re going with this._ ”

“My point is, most people express love in the same way that they most feel love. In other words, if you want Roman to truly understand that you love him, regardless of what’s happened between you, then you may need to make a grand gesture for him to realize it.”

“ _Uh, love’s a bit of a strong word._ ”

“I don’t just mean romantic love. Whatever kind of love is the basis of your relationship is important, and the love languages still apply.”

A minute passed in silence.

“ _Okay, I think I know what I need to do._ ”

“That’s the spirit. Good luck, Virge.”

“ _Yeah, thanks Ro._ ”

And the call ended.

Roman leaned back in his chair again. He’d been wrong. _That_ was the best advice he’d given so far.

 

***********************

 

“Roman, open up, I need to talk to you right now.”

Virgil waited a few seconds before banging on Roman’s door again.

“Roman, I swear if you don’t open this door I’ll break it down.”

Shuffling could suddenly be heard from the other side, and Virgil stepped back to allow the door to open. The sight that met him behind the door almost shocked him into catatonia.

Roman was a mess. His hair was unkempt and greasy. His face looked like he hadn’t slept or washed in days. His usual princely attire was missing, replaced with an old t-shirt and baggy sweatpants, both in grey, which seemed almost unnerving on the usually immaculately and colorfully dressed side.

“What do you want?” he asked, sounding even worse than he looked.

Startled back to speech, Virgil quickly replied, “I just want to talk to you for a minute.”

Roman shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his unmade bed, sitting down heavily upon it. Glancing around as he followed him, Virgil noted that the room was just as much of a wreck as its occupant, with faded posters barely hanging to the walls, trash and dirty clothes all over the floor, and a number of cobwebs hanging off the furniture, which looked undusted and faded.

Virgil pulled the desk chair over to sit in front of him. Roman refused to meet his eyes, continuing to stare at the ground instead. His face was almost blank, as if he didn’t even have enough energy to muster up any sort of emotions. Virgil felt another pang of guilt, but forced it down as he began to talk.

“Listen, Roman. I wanted to apologize for blowing up at you like that. It was wrong of me to yell at you and accuse you of trying to manipulate me like that. And I definitely shouldn’t have ruined your present like that.”

Roman didn’t respond.

“It’s just, I thought you were trying to change me to be someone you’d be more comfortable with. I thought you hated the way I was and wanted to make me more like what you wanted me to be. It was wrong of me to make that assumption. I should have just talked to you about it.”

Roman continued to stare at the floor, but a small wet spot was appearing between them in the carpet.

“I just…I really want to know the truth. Were you trying to change me? Or were you just trying to…to make me feel better, in your own way?”

Roman finally looked up, the tears now flowing more freely from his eyes.

“I just wanted to bring a little light into your life. You do so much to help keep Thomas and us safe, even when all I did was resent you for it. So after you tried to duck out and we learned your name, I wanted to try and be more accepting of you.

“I’ll admit, your comment about _Cinderella_ kind of triggered something for me, but I was in the wrong for being upset and forceful about it. And I should have been gentler when showing you how to hang up the decorations, but I was so glad that you had agreed to help us instead of hiding away because we didn’t want you.

“When I made that hoodie for you, I figured you’d like it because it showed how much of a light you are to us. To me.”

He paused to try and wipe the snot now leaking along with the tears. Virgil was reeling. The Roman on the call center had suggested this possibility, but Virgil hadn’t really believed it could be possible. Now, it was leaving him feeling even worse than he had before.

“You do so much to keep Thomas safe, to keep us safe. You saved us when we almost got corrupted going after you. You’ve kept us from harm more times than I can remember. You’ve sacrificed everything, including your chance to be accepted by us when we were younger, just so you could do your job. I just wanted to show you how much you’ve come to mean to me.

“Patton was right. No matter how dark your clothes or style, you shine like a diamond in a dark and frightening world. And I wanted to show you with that hoodie.”

Roman was now actively sobbing into his hands. Virgil hesitated for a moment, but then did something he never thought he’d do.

He got up and sat on the bed next to Roman, stretching his arm around his shoulders, lightly rubbing his back as he leaned his head on Roman’s. For a long time they sat like that, with only Roman’s sobs to break the silence. Finally, the tears began to subside, and Roman sat up as Virgil pulled his arm back.

“I’m sorry. I’d just assumed you were trying to change me. I…jumped to a conclusion. And it hurt you. I shouldn’t have just assumed. I should have talked to you about it.”

“I’m sorry too. I still managed to mess things up, even when I was just trying to be more inclusive and encouraging.”

“It’s not like we could just change our entire relationship overnight.”

“But we could have tried a lot harder to make it work.”

Virgil nodded. Another few moments passed in silence before Virgil spoke up again.

“Hey, I want to show you something.”

A whooshing noise made Roman turn to Virgil, and he froze when he saw what he’d done.

Virgil was now wearing the hoodie Roman had made for him. Virgil had sewn it back together with golden thread and red patches, giving it the same aesthetic as his own purple and black hoodie. It looked even better than what Roman had designed.

“I know I didn’t really respond well to it the first time, but it really is rather nice.”

Roman was shocked.

“You…you really…like it?”

“Yeah, I…kinda do. It’s not quite my preferred color, but it does still look nice.”

Roman’s mouth curled ever so slightly upward. Virgil smirked at that.

“I also got you something.”

Roman’s brow furrowed in confusion, but a second whoosh was accompanied by the sudden feeling of clean fabric on his body, causing him to look down at himself. Surprised by what he saw, he rushed to his full body mirror to get a better look.

Virgil had made a new prince outfit for him, only done in a dark purple with a golden sash and highlights. It was darker than Romans’ preferred aesthetic, but he couldn’t deny how well the colors went together, or the craftsmanship that had been put into it.

Virgil carefully walked up behind him.

“Do you…do you like it?” he asked, looking apprehensive.

“Like it?” Roman repeated. He turned to look at Virgil. There was a moment where Virgil wasn’t sure what he’d say, and then…

“I…LOVE IT!” He wrapped Virgil up in his arms and twirled him around. Virgil was so shocked he didn’t even protest. Roman set him back down and turned him to look at the two of them in the mirror.

“This looks amazing. And so do you. You really have a knack for this clothing design thing.”

“Well, I took some cues from the creativity expert.”

The two smiled at each other’s reflection, marveling both at the gifts they had given each other and the side next to them. Perhaps, they both thought, they really could get to a good place with their relationship. They just needed to work on it, and they both now realized that was best done together.

Soon enough, Roman decided they needed to go get Patton to take their picture, something that Virgil complained about the entire way down to the commons. But the smirk that seemed permanently plastered to his face the whole time said he was enjoying himself regardless. And if he kept a copy of that picture by his bed where he could look at it every night, the others never said a word about it.


	5. Love’s Many Forms (or) Cleaning Up a “Mess”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -Unrequited Love  
>   
> Squick Warnings  
> -Romantic Pairings:  
> \--Established Logicality  
> \--One-Sided Analogical  
> \--Pre-Prinxiety

Inspired by “[An Illogical Mess](https://infinitesimalsolemnvow.tumblr.com/post/172188375680/an-illogical-mess)” by [infinitesimalsolemnvow](https://infinitesimalsolemnvow.tumblr.com/)

 

Roman raised his hand to knock, but hesitated. It hadn’t worked the last few times he’d tried. Why would this time be any different?

It had been over a week since Virgil had walked in on Logan and Patton kissing. And no one had seen him out of his room since he’d run off afterward. Logan had tried to talk to him, but he refused to even speak to him, leaving Logan discouraged. Patton just got angry noises whenever he tried, and it was breaking his heart to know his best friend was angry with him. Roman at least managed to get him to talk to him, but it was mostly just him saying everything was pointless.

But Roman was determined. He knew he had to try at least one more time. So he knocked.

“Hey, Virge? It’s Roman. I really need to talk to you about something.”

He unfolded the piece of paper he’d brought with him as he waited for a reply. There was none.

“Virge, buddy? I know you’re in there. Can we please talk?”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Whatever you want.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, Roman. Just go away.”

“But Virgil—“

“I said **go.** ”

Virgil’s voice suddenly distorted, and Roman knew there would be no talking to him for a while. Tucking the paper in his pocket, he made his way down to the kitchen.

Patton and Logan were already in there, each nursing a steaming mug in silence. They both looked up as Roman entered.

“Any luck, kiddo?” Patton asked, his eyes watery from unshed tears.

Roman shook his head. Logan sighed, looking back down at his cup.

“I feel so guilty. I should have realized that Virgil might have feelings for me. I should have told him about our relationship. He shouldn’t have had to find out that way.”

“Logan, sweetie, it’s not your fault,” Patton said, reaching over to grab his hand. “You can’t help feeling the way you do for me anymore than Virgil can help feeling the way he does about you. Yes, we should have told him about us a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean we were in the wrong for being in a relationship. Nor was he in the wrong for wanting a relationship with you.”

“But the two are incompatible. Believe me, I’ve considered the possibility of being in a relationship with both of you, but I don’t feel that way about him. And even if I did, I would still have to choose, as I am certain that I am not polyamorous.”

“Just because things are incompatible doesn’t mean they’re wrong. We just need to find a way to balance them out.”

“But how?” Roman butted in. “How do we get Virgil to understand and be there to help him when we can’t even get him to listen to us?”

“If only there was someone we could talk to about these sorts of things,” Patton remarked.

The statement triggered something in Logan’s memory. Something he’d found recently that might just help them. He suddenly stood up.

“One moment, I need to retrieve something from my room.”

Roman and Patton exchanged looks as he sank out. After a few moments, he sank back in and returned to his seat, holding a small piece of paper in his hands.

“This sifted into my room from the subconscious a few days ago. I was uncertain as to its purpose, so I filed it away for later analysis. However, after what Patton just suggested, I felt that it might prove useful in our current state of affairs.”

He held it out to Patton, who took it and read it over.

“’The Sanders Sides Support Center’?”

“It would appear to be some sort of call center dedicated specifically to helping us. I theorize that it could be Thomas’ subconscious attempting to be available to deal with issues between us that we cannot figure out on our own.”

“Do you think it would help?” Roman asked.

“I am uncertain, but we have few alternatives at this point. I do believe that it would be worth trying.”

“Okay then, I’m in. Patton?”

He looked over at the father figure. After a moment, he nodded in agreement.

 

***********************

 

Patton sat up expectantly in his chair. He’d only had a few calls so far, so he was quite anxious to get another one. He’d loved being able to help others with their problems, and the idea that he was helping to make their lives better was filling him with so much joy.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ring of his phone, and he suppressed a squeal of glee as he answered it.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Patton. How can I help you?”

“ _Wait, I thought you said it was a subconscious thing? Why does it sound like Padre?_ ”

“ _It was only a theory, though that would also explain why it sounds like Patton while he is here with us making this call._ ”

“ _Or it could be an alternate universe me that we’ve somehow tapped into to get the advice we need to help Virgil._ ”

“Well—“

“ _Come on, Pat, I’m the creative one and even I think that’s a weird idea._ ”

“ _It would seem highly unlikely._ ”

“ _It was just a thought._ ”

“Excuse—“

“ _Yeah, a weird one. Can we just focus on helping Virgil?_ ”

“ _It would be prudent to remain on topic._ ”

“ _But we don’t know how this—_ “

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but maybe it would be best if you stopped arguing and told me about your problem.”

There was a moment of silence after Patton’s outburst.

“ _Apologies. We became…distracted._ ”

“ _I apologize as well._ ”

“ _Me too._ ”

“It’s okay. Now, who wants to tell me what’s going on? Also, why isn’t Virgil calling with you?”

There was another awkward pause.

“ _Virgil…is actually the reason we are contacting you._ ”

“ _Oh? What happened?_ ”

“ _Well, Virgil and I had been becoming rather close in recent days. And unbeknownst to myself, he had begun to develop…a romantic attraction to me._ ”

“ _But Logan and I were already in a relationship, though we hadn’t told anyone yet._ ”

“ _And Virgil hadn’t informed anyone about his own feelings either._ ”

“ _It all came to a head a few days ago, when Virge walked in on the two of us…kissing._ ”

“ _When we heard him, we looked over, and I’ll never forget the look of absolute heartbreak on his face. He ran off after we turned to look at him, and we tried to go after him, but he locked his door and refused to answer us when we called him._ ”

“ _He’s been holed up in there for over a week, and he won’t come out for any of us. Not even me._ ”

Patton was already crying by this point.

“ _What we need is some way to make him listen to us so we can apologize and work things out with him._ ”

“Well, I’m afraid it’s not that simple. Virgil needs time to come to terms with what he saw, and until he’s ready, trying to force him to listen to you would only make it worse. You of course can’t stop trying, but until he’s willing to listen, you just have to wait.”

There was no response for a moment.

“ _How long do you think it’ll take?_ ”

Patton shrugged his shoulders. “Different people process things at different speeds. You just need to make sure that he knows that you want to talk, but that you’re willing to wait until he’s ready to listen.”

Another pause.

“ _Alright. We’ll wait until he’s ready. And when he is, we’ll show him that just because Logan doesn’t feel the same way he does, that doesn’t make his feelings wrong or invalid._ ”

“ _And I will ensure him that my love for him, while not romantic, is still strong, and that his happiness is just as important as ours._ ”

“ _And that no matter what, he’s family, and like they say: ‘Family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten.’_ ”

The four of them recited the old quote together, and Patton and his counterpart giggled at that.

“Well, it sounds like you guys have this figured out. Good luck.”

“ _Thanks, Other Padre._ ”

“ _We are most grateful for your assistance._ ”

“ _Good luck with your alternate kiddos._ ”

“And good luck with yours.”

“ _I still don’t see how an alternate universe Patton would be possible. The technology required to cross the boundaries between universes—_ “

The line cut off before Logan could continue. Patton shut off his end of the call and smiled to himself.

“Oh, I really hope they get everything worked out,” Patton commented.

“Who?” David called.

“The guys I just got off a call with. They’ve got a bit of a doozy of an issue to work out, and I just really hope what I said to them helps.”

“Well, would you like to see?”

Patton nodded enthusiastically and ran over to join him at the console as he pulled up the image....

 

***********************

 

“Virgil? It’s us. We really need to talk.”

Patton waited to see if Virgil would respond, Logan and Roman standing patiently beside him. This was the fifth day since their call to the center that they’d tried to talk to Virgil. So far they’d had no response. But just as he was about to tell him that they’d leave him alone and try again tomorrow, they heard the door unlock itself.

The three entered Virgil’s room, seeing him huddled up on his bed, looking even smaller than he usually did. Patton immediately went to sit next to him, and the other two joined them on the bed.

“Virgil, honey, we need to talk about this. It’s the only way we can move on.”

Virgil just sighed. He was too tired to care anymore. He just wanted to get this over with. Patton looked to Logan, who cleared his throat before beginning.

“Virgil, I understand that you have feelings for me. And I’m…flattered that you feel that I would be worthy of your companionship. But I’m afraid that I just don’t reciprocate those feelings. A part of me wishes I could, but as Patton has helped me to understand, I cannot change how I feel in my heart.

“But just because I don’t have romantic feelings for you doesn’t mean I don’t love you, Virgil. You are an amazing individual, with a caring heart and a compassionate soul. You strive to protect us every day, and you care so deeply for us, your family. Because to me that’s what you are: family. I would never want to lose you.”

“Logan’s right, kiddo. We love you so much, and knowing that our relationship has hurt you like this breaks our hearts. We don’t want to lose what we’ve created with each other, but we also don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose my dark strange son. It would break my heart just as much as if I lost Logan, just in a different way.”

Virgil suddenly shifted around, sitting up to meet Patton’s eyes. His own were already puffy and red from crying, and the tears were still continuing to fall.

“I know you two care about each other so much, and I don’t want to break that apart. I just…I guess I just felt betrayed. I…I had wanted to ask Logan if he was interested in being in a relationship with me, but then I saw you two kissing, and…well, I’m the fight or flight response, so…I chose flight.”

He wiped away the tears from his face as he paused.

“I just felt so hurt, and I know that I shouldn’t be. It’s not like you cheated on me, Logan, or threw your relationship in my face. I guess…I guess I just wanted it so much that I created this fantasy in my head, and it felt so real to me that when I discovered the reality of what was going on, I felt betrayed, even though you never did anything wrong.”

“Cognitive distortions,” Logan confirmed.

“Yeah, that’s what I finally realized. I let myself believe something that wasn’t real, and I let my emotions get the best of me when I was forced to recognize that fact.  I even started thinking that I didn't deserve that kind of stuff because I was still the villain.”

"Kiddo, you know that's not true."

"I do, Pat, I do.  But like I said, I started thinking that afterward.  But that thought at least I was able to deal with on my own.  I know it couldn't be that simple, especially after everyone kept trying to help me afterward.  I realized eventually that it wasn't because I didn't deserve it, but just because he didn't feel that way about me."

Logan nodded his head as Virgil continued.

"But it still hurt.  I was so ready to tell him, to let him know.  But seeing you two together like that, after everything we'd been through..."

Virgil couldn't continue and dropped his head onto his knees.  Patton leaned in closer as Logan reached up to rub his back.

“Virgil, I understand that this must be quite painful for you to deal with, but if Patton has taught me anything, it's that we can’t just ignore our emotions. You have feelings for me, or at least you did. And those feelings, even if I never reciprocate them, are completely valid. You have every right to feel that way about me, even if I don’t feel that way about you.”

Virgil stared at him for a moment, then pulled him in for a hug. Logan returned the embrace as Virgil let loose a brief series of sobs. After a moment, Virgil pulled back.

“I know you guys love each other, and I’ll do my best to not get in the way of that, but…”

He trailed off, unsure how to explain without hurting their feelings. Roman however understood, and spoke up for him.

“You want them to be happy, but you know you may have a hard time seeing them together for a while.”

Virgil nodded in confirmation.

“I’m going to try my best to move forward, but seeing you guys…doing stuff together is…is going to be hard for me to deal with for a while.”

“Oh, kiddo, that’s okay. Logan and I understand that completely. If there’s ever a time where what we’re doing as a couple in front of you is making you uncomfortable, we can always go somewhere private so you don’t have to see it.”

“But I don’t want to mess with your relationship. I want you guys to be happy.”

“But your happiness is just as important as ours,” Logan explained. “We want to be together, but we don’t want our relationship to hurt you any more than it already has. Remember, your feelings are just as valid as anyone else’s. Besides, we both love you too. Just…not in the same way as we love each other.”

“That’s the beautiful thing about love,” Roman chimed in. “It has so many forms, and we all deserve to have it.”

Virgil felt himself choking up. Patton reached over and pulled him in for a hug, and Virgil collapsed into his arms. Logan and Roman scooted over so they could join them in the embrace.

“No matter what happens, kiddo, we’re family. And you can’t spell family without I, L, Y.”

Virgil’s tears increased, but his smile got even wider as he burrowed further into the embrace. The others squeezed in closer as well, ready to stay there together for as long as they needed to.

 

***********************

 

“Come on, come on.”

“That’s not gonna help you beat me.”

“Just a little bit faster.”

“I’m gonna win…again.”

“Almost…gah! No! Ugh, stupid sharp turn.”

Roman folded his arms in frustration as Patton’s character started its victory lap on the screen.

“Told you, kiddo, there’s no beating me at Rainbow Road, no matter what version we play.”

“Why must you be so good at this? You’re a dad. Dads don’t know video games.”

“This one does.”

Roman glared at him. “One more time, just to be sure.”

“Now kiddo, what if Logan or Virgil want to play?”

Logan looked up from where he was reading on the sectional.

“I believe Virgil and I are quite content to skip out, though I’m sure he agrees that it was thoughtful of you to ask us.”

Virgil nodded in confirmation as he continued to lean back against Logan, headphones on and phone in hand.

It had been some time since the sides’ big heart to heart. True to their word, Logan and Patton had done their best to be considerate with their interactions. And while there had been more than a few hiccups along the way, things had finally started to return to how they had been.

Well, almost.

“Oh dear, would you look at the time?” Patton suddenly shouted, jumping up. “I need to get started on dinner. Logan, would you care to assist me?”

Virgil and Roman smirked at each other. They knew exactly what Patton really meant by that. And the sudden blush that appeared on Logan’s cheeks as he got up confirmed it.

“I…yes, I would like to…uh, assist you.”

The two bespectacled sides hurried to the kitchen, and Roman moved to take Logan’s previous place on the sectional.

“I can’t tell if that’s still adorable or if it’s already moved into annoyingly sweet territory.”

“It was always annoyingly sweet,” Virgil retorted. “It’s just now the novelty has worn off.”

Roman chuckled. But after a pause he turned back to Virgil, concern in his gaze.

“Virgil, in all honesty, are you doing okay with…everything?”

Virgil closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath and letting it out before responding.

“In all honesty? Yeah, I think I am. I mean, the feelings are kinda still there, but they’re not so overwhelming that they really hurt anymore, you know?”

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Besides, as much as I…’liked’ Logan, it’s nothing compared to what they feel for each other. I mean, I still like him, just it feels more like a family thing instead of a lover thing. Does that make any sense?”

“It does.”

The two sat in silence for a moment.

“Hey Ro?”

“Yeah, Virge?”

“I know I’ve probably said it before, a lot, but…thank you, again, for coming and talking to me about all this. If you guys hadn’t, I’m not sure what would have happened.”

“Ah, don’t sweat it, my Fabulous Killjoy. I’m just glad that call center actually worked out.”

Virgil frowned. “Call center?”

“Yeah, Logan had this business card for a ‘Sanders Sides Support Center’, or whatever, and we called it, and the guy on the other end helped us figure out the best way to help you.”

Virgil found himself with a lot of questions, but the fact that they’d called a help center specifically to help him touched him deeply.

“It’s kind of funny, ‘cause that’s what I’d wanted to talk to you about that last time I tried to talk to you.”

Virgil looked up, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, see, I took this walk through my kingdom to try and come up with a way to get you to talk to me, and I found a flyer for the same help center. So I brought it to your room hoping we could call it together so you could get the best advice about how to move forward, but you still weren’t in the best state to have company, so I figured I’d wait. Sorry.”

Virgil was floored. Roman had gone out of his way to try and help him. It really was rather noble of him. But he didn’t need to know that, so he switched back to their banter.

“Aww, you really do care about me, don’t you Princey?”

Roman smirked back. “Don’t get so cocky there, Brendon Eerie. A prince must take care of all his subjects, even the emo ones.”

Virgil punched him lightly in mock indignation. He still hadn’t figured out how many more semi-insulting nicknames and quips Roman might be able to churn out. But he couldn’t deny that the banter felt nicer now, much less like the antagonism of their past, and more like something special just between them.

He glanced over at Roman, their eyes meeting. They smiled at each other, before Virgil turned away again, trying to hide the sudden blush in his cheeks, which was totally not from any sort of feelings he might have concerning Roman. Which was too bad, since it meant that he missed seeing a similar blush in Roman’s....


	6. Friends Helping Friends (or) Explaining the “Shaking”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -Sympathetic Deceit  
> -Snakes

Inspired by “[SMNTH](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15011936)” by [Mercy_Rhyne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne)

 

Virgil’s total rejection left Deceit feeling abandoned. He really hadn’t meant to hit Virgil with his hat. And even if he had, he would have never meant it as what Virgil had taken it as. He loved Virgil, he was one of his closest friends. The hat-shaking was just his coping mechanism, and Virgil had just had bad timing when he had come to check on him.

But now he’d never come to check on him, ever.

Deceit dealt with the pain the only way he could. He isolated himself. It wasn’t like he needed to eat or socialize, he was just one part of a full human after all. But being included recently by the lighter sides had become a norm he would quickly come to miss.

The others very quickly noted his absence. Patton tried multiple times to get Deceit to come out, but he refused, too afraid to risk seeing or even hearing Virgil. When Deceit refused to even explain what happened, Patton brought it up with Logan to try and figure out what was going on.

“I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with Virgil. He went to speak to him shortly before he locked himself in his room.”

Patton immediately shifted his focus to Virgil, who avoided the subject until finally blowing up at Patton about being hounded before locking himself in his room. Though the tears in Virgil’s eyes told Patton that he too was missing his old friend.

Patton was at a total loss at that point. Neither Logan nor Roman could convince either of the other two to even leave their rooms, let alone try and talk out what was going on between them. He began to visit the two individually, trying to gently coax them into realizing they needed to work this out.

One such visit with Deceit found Patton gently stroking Deceit’s pet snake as he sat next to him.

“You know, I may not be able to speak snake, but I think he agrees with me. You really need to talk this out with Virgil. It’s the only way you’re going to be able to move forward.”

“He’s not going to listen to me. He doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“But Dee—“

“No!”

He turned away, curling further into the bed. Patton hesitated, but then reached over to stroke his side. After a few minutes, Deceit’s breathing had slowed into that of sleep. Patton carefully pulled the covers up over him before picking up Roger.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to take you for your walk today, huh?”

Frank flicked his tongue in understanding. Patton sunk out with Frank, and the two appeared on the cluttered shores of a dark sea.

The subconscious.

Patton placed Frank on the ground, and the two began to trek through the flotsam and jetsam that had washed up from Thomas’ subconscious mind. Most of the debris would eventually be pulled back out into the sea by the waves, so Patton gave little heed to most of it as he clambered about, talking to himself about other ways he could get Virgil and Deceit to work through their problems.

Frank meanwhile was skirting right along the water’s edge, trying to stay just beyond the waves that washed ashore. But distracted as he was with his owner’s problem, one such wave proved far larger than he anticipated, and he was suddenly picked up and borne by it further inland. As he was carried, he bumped into something in the wave, and he curled around it instinctively.

When he was finally deposited on solid beach again, he cautiously uncoiled himself. Seeing that he was relatively safe, he took a closer look at what he’d clutched onto. It was a sturdy piece of cardstock paper, smaller than a phone, with simple black lettering. Turning his head to get a better look, he read it over.

 

_Are you hurting? Do you feel like your efforts to help Thomas are fruitless or unappreciated? Is your relationship with one or more of the other sides causing you duress? Are you considering something drastic to try and ease the pain?_

_Do not despair. There is always hope. If you need help, give us a call at 1-989-424-CALM. Operators are always available._

**_At the Sanders Sides Support Center._ **

 

This. This was what they needed. This could solve everything. But how could he do it? Then it hit him: Deceit’s phone! Dee wasn’t using it. After all, who would he call? He was trying to avoid everyone else, and the only person he was talking to always just came to visit. It wouldn’t take much to get it and use it to call this “Support Center” and ask for help.

“Frank? Where are you?”

Oh shoot, Patton.

He’d forgotten who had brought him here. Thinking quickly, he balled himself up around the card, keeping it hidden from view as Patton approached.

“Hey there buddy. You okay?”

Frank knew he couldn’t keep the card hidden for long. He shook his head, flicking his tongue repeatedly, knowing Patton would understand what he meant by it. And the sudden look of concern on the moral side’s face told him he’d bought it.

“Aww, did you get stuck in a wave buddy? You must be freezing right now. No wonder you’re all curled up. Here.”

Patton quickly pulled the cardigan off his shoulders and actually put it on. He then reached down and picked up the little ball of snake, gently placing him in the pocket in front.

“There, that should be enough to keep you warm until we get you back to Deceit’s room. Then you can curl up under your heat lamp and relax all that cold away.”

Frank closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of his little pocket, but he knew he wouldn’t be stretching out under the heat lamp when he got back to Dee’s room.

No, he had more important things to take care of.

 

***********************

 

Thomas lounged back in his chair, tempted to put his feet up on the desk. He hadn’t gotten a call in a while, and he was starting to get a tad bored. But that was quickly dispelled when his phone lit up.

He reached to answer, but before he could it stopped mid-ring, and a yellow light started flashing above him.

“What’s going on?” he called, turning to David, who was now tapping away at his own console.

“It’s a Yellow Alert. It means there’s a potential issue with the caller.”

Thomas looked confused. The others had all turned to watch, intrigued by what was going on. Thomas finally asked, “What do you mean?”

“When I was designing the system, I remembered our encounter with your Deceit in the Collective Unconscious. It occurred to me that since you had Deceit as a dark side, it was entirely plausible that others would as well, and possibly have other dark sides too. So I installed a warning system in case one of them calls.”

“So that they can’t call in?” Patton asked, looking concerned.

“Not exactly. It’s so that someone can’t call in with malicious intent. It would also activate if a less good version of one of you guys called in.”

David continued to work at his station, various images popping up on the screen. Finally, an image of Deceit appeared, looking forlorn.

“Ah, this particular version of Deceit commonly hangs out with the light sides, and at least was good friends with Virgil.”

“Was?” Logan inquired.

“Apparently they haven’t been speaking to each other recently. He might be calling to figure out a way to fix it. But he’s definitely not a bad guy in this universe. I’m going to allow the call.”

David pressed a large green button on his screen, and the yellow light over Thomas’ head blinked out as his phone began to ring again. He quickly turned back around to answer.

“Thank you for calling the Sanders Sides Support Center. My name is Thomas, how can I help you?”

A loud hissing noise met his ears.

“Hello? Is there anyone there?”

More hissing continued.

“I’m sorry, I think we have a bad connection.”

David came over as the hissing intensified. Thomas turned to him to explain.

“All I’m hearing is this, like, hissing noise. Is it static? Or a bad connection?”

“Put it on speaker.”

Thomas did so, pulling off his headset and allowing the entire room to fill with the noise.

“It sounds kind of like a snake’s hiss,” Logan supplied.

“Is this Deceit only talking in hisses?” Virgil quipped. “Because if ours did that, he’d be a lot easier to deal with.”

“No, it’s not Deceit,” David explained, “it’s an actual snake. I think I saw that this Deceit had a pet snake.”

“Well, if the pet snake is calling, how are we supposed to understand them?” Roman asked.

“It’s easy, you just need to know Parseltongue.”

Thomas lit up. “Like from Harry Potter?”

“Exactly. Just make yourself a Parselmouth.”

Thomas nodded his head before closing his eyes to concentrate. Using the techniques David had taught him, he focused his mind on the new knowledge he needed. Once he could see it in his mind, he snapped his fingers to complete the process. A purple flash told the others he’d done it, and suddenly the hissing sound changed in the sides’ ears, sounding more like words.

“ _-go to all this trouble to call you idiots if all you’re going to do is talk like I can’t understand you._ ”

Thomas blinked for a moment, comprehension setting in.

“Sorry, we had a bit of a communications issue on our end. But it’s been resolved now. What can we do for you, Mister…?”

“ _Finally. And the name’s_ _Frank. Frank the snake. Anyway, I don’t exactly understand how this whole ‘Sanders Support System’ or whatever works, but I’ve got bigger issues to deal with than figuring that out, so listen up._

_"Deceit doesn’t know I’m calling, but he really needs your help._

_“ _See, he has this habit of shaking his bowler hat when he gets nervous and needs to calm down. Well, the other day he was doing it in his room when Virgil came to see if he was alright. He was so startled by him that he accidentally let go of the hat, and it hit Virgil square in the chest.__

_“ _Virgil took offence to it, and now the two aren’t speaking to each other. These guys used to be best friends, and now neither of them will leave their rooms because of this. Is there any way I can get them to stop being idiots and work this out?_ ”_

Thomas sat silently, pondering the situation. The others looked equally concerned and puzzled. Finally, David spoke up.

“Had Virgil ever seen him doing his shaking hat thing before?”

“ _Yeah, they’ve all seen him do it. I just don’t think any of them have figured out why he does it. Of course he hasn’t exactly explained it to them either. I swear, he can be the biggest idiot of them all sometimes._ ”

“Well, maybe that’s what needs to happen,” Patton supplied. “If Virgil understood what was going on, maybe then he’d realize his mistake and the two of them could reconcile.”

“ _I think he does know he overreacted, but he’s being too stubborn to consider that he might be at fault._ ”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Virgil confirmed. “I’d definitely overreact to something like that, and then be too anxious to admit that I was probably the one at fault.”

“So why can’t Deceit go and talk to Virgil?” Logan asked.

“ _He’s convinced this is for the best. I swear, everyone says Virgil’s the self-deprecating one, but Dee could very easily give him a run for his money._ ”

“What about the others: Logan, Patton, Roman?”

“ _They’ve tried. He’s locked himself in his own room now because they won’t stop bothering him about it._ ”

They were running out of options. But then Roman finally spoke up.

“Well then why don’t you go talk to him?”

There was silence for a moment.

“ _Me? What makes you think I could help? If he doesn’t want to hear from the others, why would he listen to me?_ ”

“Because you won’t give him a choice,” Thomas stated. “You could go into his room and force him to listen to you. He may not be happy about it, but sometimes what being a true friend means is using tough love to get them to understand how much of an idiot they’re being. My friends have used it on me so many times, and while I may have resented them for it at the time, I definitely needed to hear it.”

Frank paused before responding. “ _You may be right. He really needs to get his head out of his butt about this. And if the others aren’t willing to make him understand, then I guess I’ll have to do it. Ugh, I’d really hoped I wouldn’t have to actually work to get this fixed._ ”

“Well, I’m sure in the long run it’ll be worth it.”

“ _Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess I’ll go give it a try._ ”

“Alright, good luck Frank.”

“Oh, and Frank,” David jumped in, “this number can receive text messages, so if you want you can use that to contact us instead of having to call us.”

“ _Got it. Later._ ”

The call ended, and Thomas leaned back in his chair as David returned to his station.

“Well, that just happened. I really hope it works out for them.”

“Me too,” David replied, typing away at his console again. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

“Also, since when does this number receive texts?”

“Since about right…now.” David flipped a switch, and a new window popped up on their screens, showing a text interface. Thomas looked it over.

“Nice.”

“I try.”

Thomas smirked, but then was drawn back to his screen when he saw a message appear.

“Hey, it’s Frank. I think he’s already talked to Virgil about the thing.”

“How did it go?” Patton asked, leaning in with the others to see his message.

“Well…”

 

***********************

 

Frank slithered his way under Virgil’s door, trying his best not to draw attention to himself. He needed to make sure that he wasn’t noticed until he was ready to force Virgil to listen to him. He carefully made his way over to the bed, where Virgil was lounging and listening to his headphones. Frank climbed up next to his head, positioned himself on the side table, and then whacked Virgil across the face with his tail.

“Ow! Hey, what the—“

Virgil looked around, pulling off his headphones as he searched for the culprit. Finally, his eyes settled on Frank, and his expression turned to one of frustration.

“No, Frank, I’m not going to talk to him.”

Frank just stared at him.

“I don’t care how upset he is, he shouldn’t have thrown his hat at me. He clearly doesn’t care about our friendship.”

Frank made a face that on a person would have been the equivalent of raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Well, I mean he’s always found our friendship comforting, especially after he got pulled up here to the light side of Thomas’ mind. And he’s never done anything before to jeopardize our friendship. But that doesn’t excuse what he did.”

Frank looked around the side table, seeing a small bottle cap left over from who knew what. He carefully picked it up with his tail, held it over his head like a hat.

“I don’t…what’s up with the hat thing?”

Frank pulled it back down, lifting his head and holding the cap in front of his extended body, shaking it in his grip.

“Yeah, I know Dee has that hat shaking thing he does, so what?”

Frank’s face contorted to one that Virgil recognized as nervous or uncertain.

“So you’re saying he does it when he’s nervous.”

Frank nodded his head, then suddenly turned to his right, looking shocked as the cap flew out of his tail grip and smacked into the wall. Virgil looked between him and the discarded cap, his face quirked in thought.

“So Dee does that hat shaking thing whenever he’s feeling nervous, and when I went to check on him, he was startled enough to lose his grip and it flew and hit me by accident?”

Frank nodded his head.

Virgil immediately felt down. He’d never realized that what Dee was doing with his hat was trying to calm himself down. He should have understood. He had his own idiosyncrasies when he tried to calm himself down. It shouldn’t have been so hard to realize others would as well.

He sat down heavily on his bed.

“Frank, I think I might have really messed up.”

Frank slithered over to Virgil and up onto his shoulder, rubbing gently against his cheek.

“Do you think there’s still a chance that we could…make up?”

Frank nodded his head. Virgil gave him a small smile, then carefully picked him up and made his way to Deceit’s room.

“Dee, are you in here?” he called as he pushed the door open.

Deceit was sitting on his bed, his back to the door. Virgil carefully placed Frank in his tank before going to sit on Deceit’s bed, facing away from him.

“Dee, I wanted to apologize for reacting that way to what happened. I shouldn’t have just assumed that you were trying to be malicious. I jumped to a conclusion, and then refused to admit that I was in the wrong. I’m sorry.”

Virgil paused, trying to look over his shoulder at Deceit without turning his head too much. Deceit said nothing, so Virgil continued.

“I guess I just never realized that the whole hat shaking thing was a nervous thing you did to try and calm down. Considering how many of those kinds of things I do to keep myself calm, I should have realized that it was more than just something you did. And I certainly should have known that you wouldn’t have just thrown your hat like that at me.”

He paused again, hoping Deceit would respond. When he didn’t, Virgil kept going.

“I know you’re probably pretty upset with me after everything that’s happened, and if you can’t forgive me right now, I’ll understand. But I needed you to know that I’m truly sorry for what I did, and that I hope we can be friends again.”

There was still no response. Too guilt-ridden to stay and wait, Virgil began to get up from the bed. Then suddenly a pair of arms pulled him into a hug from behind.

“Apology **not** accepted.”

Virgil smiled as tears began to leak from his eyes, and he turned around in Deceit’s arms to see him better, noting his own tears and smile. The two pulled each other close.

“I did **not** miss you, Virge.”

“I missed you too, Dee.”

From his place in the tank, Frank smiled, and continued to type out his message to the center, letting them know that things had turned out okay.

 

***********************

 

“So everything turned out alright then?” Patton asked.

“Looks like it,” Thomas replied.

Virgil let out a huff.

“What’s up with you, Para-morose?” Roman asked.

“I’m just having a hard time believing this version of Deceit is a good guy.”

“It is understandable, given your past with our own Deceit,” Logan conceded. “However, that does not mean that alternate versions of him might not be more positive influences for their versions of Thomas.”

“It’s true,” Roman continued. “I mean, even I had my doubts, but considering the less good versions of myself that we’ve encountered, it would seem possible that at least one version of Deceit might be a good guy instead of a bad guy.”

“And we can’t hold him responsible for what another version of him did,” Patton explained. “Just like we can’t hold each other responsible for what our alternate selves have done.”

Virgil shrugged. “I’m really trying, but it’s not that simple.”

“It’s okay, Virge,” David said. “Considering the past you had with our version of Deceit, it makes sense that you’d have a hard time seeing him in a positive light. And that’s fine. You just need to remember that those negative experiences were only with our Deceit, not any other universe’s Deceit. Yes, there are other bad versions of him out there, but there are good versions of him too. Just like there are good and bad alternate versions of all of you.”

“And we can’t make any judgments on any of them based on what other versions of them have done,” Thomas added. “Despite what we know about them in other worlds, each one is an individual, and deserves to be measured by their own actions and no one else’s.”

Virgil looked between them, then let out a sigh. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“I know you will, Virge,” Thomas said. “And if it takes you a while, that’s fine too. Your feelings are just as important as anyone else’s.”

Virgil nodded, and the group returned to their stations, contemplating what might have been as they waited for their next callers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References by Universe:  
> -Harry Potter  
> \--Parselmouth  
> \--Parseltongue


	7. Self-Inspiration (or) A Message for and from “Thomas”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -Bullying

Inspired by [Thomas’ Tweet about comment from middle school](https://twitter.com/ThomasSanders/status/986779569716940801)

 

For as long as he could remember, Thomas’ older brothers had always told him of the horrors of middle school. The mean teachers, the horrible bullies, and the teasing from friends and strangers alike as your body was subjected to an undeservedly painful and awkward transmogrification. All of it spelled doom, according to Patrick and Christian. But Thomas had determined that they were wrong about middle school.

It was so much worse.

It was bad enough that his voice, once that of a serenading cherub, had dropped suddenly with a crash that must have cracked something in his throat, if the number of breaks in his speech were anything to go by. And the fact that his once golden locks had randomly shifted darker, perhaps to match his sudden fascination with black, would have been problematic but still manageable. But what made it truly horrible was the fact that he couldn’t quite seem to fit in.

Sure, he was fairly well liked. He did his best to be funny, and always tried to be kind and helpful where he could. He was never someone who was mean or callous to people without reason. Of course the soup of hormones clouding his brain sometimes made it hard to determine the right reasons to be angry, but that was true of all of them. And he certainly always apologized afterward.

But only a few seemed to really want to get close to him. Sure he was funny, but his humor didn’t always resonate well with his audience. He’d tried to make himself edgier, but his own innate optimism made it hard for his darker clothes to be taken seriously. And try as he might he couldn’t seem to relate to the other guys talking about all the girls they liked and wanted to…well, you know.

But he kept trying, doing his best to be likable.

Too bad it didn’t work.

It all came to a head one afternoon as he was packing up at the end of Science class, his last period for the day. It had been a good lesson. They’d been discussing the chemistry of pollution, something he was rather passionate about. He’d even started considering a career as a chemical engineer so he could help to prevent further pollution of the Earth’s natural resources.

But he also felt in his heart a strange connection to the drama club he’d joined. Being up on stage, helping out behind the scenes, working on placement and planning and even scene editing, and just getting to hang out with some pretty cool people, none of whom insisted he should tell them about the girls he was attracted to (which at this point was none, and that seemed somewhat troubling to his hormone-addled mind).

This was leaving him somewhat conflicted, though he wasn’t focusing too much on that as he packed up his bag. What was drawing his attention was the gaggle of girls just behind him discussing boys. They’d already gotten through the various athletic teams and had completely bypassed the various “nerd” organizations, but they were stalling out on the drama kids. One in particular seemed to be giving them trouble.

“I mean, it’s just so cute the way he’s so nice to people. And he looks so good in black.”

“But he’s so shy all the time. He’s so quiet and meek. He’d do so much better if he came out of his shell a little.”

“He’s been trying with those jokes of his, and a lot of them are funny. But some of them I just don’t get.”

Yep, they were talking about him.

He knew if he were normal he’d be bursting at the seams with joy that the girls liked him, at least a little. But the fact that he wasn’t overjoyed told him something was off. He kept telling himself that maybe he was just a late bloomer, that his attraction to girls would come later, and then all that hard work of being nice and kind and funny would pay off.

But any hopes he might have conjured for the future were dashed when a new voice spoke up.

“Oh, please. Sure he’s nice and funny sometimes. But he’s mostly just weird. I mean, all those stupid puns? And he never hits on any of the girls. He just spends all his time with those drama dorks, including ‘Sky’.”

Sky was the preferred name of one kid in the drama club that Thomas had gotten rather fond of recently. Born a Derek, the kid had recently been toying with different names for himself, and had settled on Sky as his preference, though he seemed somewhat…unperturbed whenever Thomas said it was a good name for a boy. He also couldn’t deny the fact that he’d had some…unusual daydreams about him.

Suddenly what had all seemed as innocent self-expression, and the occasional weirdness of his brain, felt wrong somehow. And yet it had felt so right in his head. But any worries about what all that might mean were banished when the speaker added in one last thought.

“Let’s face it, no one really likes Thomas because he’s just so…’Thomas’.”

It was like being thrown in a frozen lake. All rational thought seemed to shut down, and his heart felt like it had been stabbed clean through with a stake. He barely managed to keep from crying has he grabbed his bag and rushed out the door.

He barely spoke the rest of the day, even to Shea. The rest of his family seemed to understand he wasn’t in the best mood, and they let him be as he silently did his chores and homework. Shea did most of the talking at dinner, and Thomas didn’t mind, though he could tell that his parents were concerned about him and wanted to ask. He just couldn’t bring himself to explain to them what had happened.

After dinner, he was finally able to go to his room to deal with everything. He immediately collapsed face down on his bed as a series of familiar whooshes told him his Sides had sunk in to help him.

“Well, this day could have gone a lot better,” Anxiety commented.

“Come on, you emo nightmare. Do you have to be sullen all the time?” Creativity was not happy to say the least. “It was just one comment. We can’t let one comment get us down. We just need to keep trying harder.”

“I fail to see how that will help us,” Logic pointed out, frustration apparent in his voice. “All of your suggestions thus far have failed to generate the popularity you so desperately seek. What we need to do is focus on our studies.”

“Yeah, because that’s going to get us far.”

“You’re one to talk. Every time we let you decide what to do, you just insist on us not being noticed by anyone.”

“Well, he wouldn’t get hurt if nobody noticed him.”

“No risk, no reward, but you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Marilyn Morose?”

“Now, kiddos, we just need to stay calm. Everything is going to be just fine.”

“Morality, I do not understand how you can be so calm and collected during all this. I know this could not have been easy for you to take. How can you possibly still be happy?”

“Because being happy is a choice, and I’m always choosing to be happy. Happy, happy, happy.”

Morality tried to beam, but it was clearly a false smile.

“Guys…” Thomas began, but was cut off by Creativity.

“I told you we should have just gone with my idea of a standup routine at lunch, but you just had to get stage fright at the last minute.”

“We could have gotten in trouble, or been booed off by the students, or fallen off the table and gotten hurt. We were better off not doing it.”

“If you had your way, we’d never do anything.”

“Guys…”

“We needed to finish our homework anyway. Good grades are our only way to get to a decent career in future.”

“But will that make Thomas happy?”

“Are you saying he’s not? That maybe you’re not happy?”

“What? No, I’m not saying that. Of course I’m happy, we’re happy, everybody’s happy. There’s no internal conflict whatsoever. I’m fine, we’re all fine.”

“Guys!”

“ **Everyone shut up!** ”

Anxiety’s voice had become distorted. He hated when that happened, but sometimes it was the only way to get them to listen.

“ **Thomas wants us t** o be quiet.”

Creativity looked upset, but didn’t argue as he turned with the others to look at Thomas, who had moved over to the window sill while the sides had been fighting.

“Guys, I just want to be alone right now. Nothing you’re doing is helping.”

“But—“

“I’m sorry, Creativity, but I just…I just don’t want to talk about it. Not with anyone.”

The four looked upset, but sunk out like he wanted.

Thomas kept staring out the window, watching the stars. He focused in on one that was shining particularly bright, and did something he hadn’t done in a long time.

He made a wish.

“I just wish people would like me for being me.”

With that, he went to change into his pajamas, not noticing as the star he’d picked out suddenly flashed a little brighter.

 

***********************

 

A blaring siren began to go off in the center. Startled, the six young men turned to its source: the red phone.

“Oh my gosh, what do we do?” Patton cried.

“Calm down, it’s just a phone,” Logan tried to point out.

“But it’s not just any phone,” Virgil retorted, “it’s the emergency ‘all of us’ level problem phone.”

“Then we’d best answer it,” Roman stated, looking resolute, before suddenly adding, “Thomas, go answer it.”

Thomas glared at him, but moved toward the phone. His hand hesitated over the receiver for a moment, but an encouraging nod from David convinced him to pick it up and place it to his ear. For a moment there was nothing, and then Thomas spoke up.

“All I’m hearing is static.”

David’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Can I see?”

Thomas held out the receiver to him as he came over. He placed it to his ear, listening. For a few moments, he seemed merely puzzled, but then his face lit up with realization. He snapped his fingers, causing a projector to appear next to the phone. As he began booting it up, the others moved in to watch.

“So, you gonna tell us what the projector is for?” Virgil asked.

“To the untrained ear what we’re hearing could be considered just static, but if you listen closely you can hear structure to it. That means that the call is coming in fine, but it’s in a format that doesn’t conform to a standard audio carrier, which means it’s probably some kind of video feed.”

“Ooh! Like that one episode of Steven Universe!” Patton exclaimed.

“Exactly. This thing should let us see what it is, though it might take a minute, as there are several different kinds of video style messages we could be getting.”

With the machine plugged into the phone, David activated the projection. The image that appeared was just as static-filled as the original call had sounded. David began adjusting the settings on the machine, causing the static to shift and change, but it still didn’t clear up. Finally, after briefly shrugging and flipping a switch, the image became crisp and clear.

“Got it! It was a wish.”

The group’s joy at getting the projection to work was short lived, as they were immediately beset with the image of a young Thomas, around eleven or twelve, looking out his bedroom window forlornly. The young Thomas sighed and slumped down further onto the sill. At that point the sound of the young Thomas’ voice could be heard from the projection.

“ _I just wish people would like me for being me._ ”

Thomas’ heart clenched. He remembered having similar moments in his own youth. One moment in particular still haunted him to this day. His sides looked just as hurt as he felt, quite possibly also remembering that instance.

David could feel his own heart breaking for the boy, but he kept his focus on double checking the universe the wish came from.

“It’s a world with a young Thomas, much like yourself. Apparently, earlier that same day, some kid in one of his classes said that nobody liked him because he was…’Thomas’,” David explained in a quiet voice.

Thomas looked up at David in shock.

“That’s the same thing that happened to me when I was in middle school. Some kid said the same thing about me. And I still feel down thinking about that.”

Patton pulled Thomas into a hug as the others pressed in to comfort him. David did his best to hold back his tears as he tried to think of the best way to help both Thomases. Then an idea came to mind.

“Thomas, if you had the chance to go back and talk to your younger self about that, what would you say?”

Thomas looked up in confusion.

“What?”

“If you had the chance to go back and try to help yourself deal with that incident, what would you say?”

Thomas thought for a moment.

“I’d tell him that that kid was wrong. That there are plenty of people who like him just the way he is. And that anyone who doesn’t isn’t worth his time. Because he’s an amazing person who deserves to be loved, no matter what.”

The sides had perked up at Thomas’ words, but Virgil cut in with an observation.

“That’s all nice and whatnot, but we can’t change the past.”

“Maybe not,” David conceded, “but maybe you can change this Thomas’ present….”

 

***********************

 

He was walking down the school hallway. Everyone around him was whispering. And he knew they were whispering about him. He really wished they wouldn’t, he didn’t like people talking about him behind his back. Finally, came up to his friend Sky.

“Hey Sky.”

“What do you want, Thomas?”

Thomas was taken aback. “I just was glad to see you. Everyone’s been talking about me behind my back.”

“Yeah, because you’re ‘Thomas’. No one likes you, remember?”

Thomas began to tear up. “But, I thought you liked me.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? _No one_ likes you because you’re so ‘Thomas’.”

The kids around them began to chant.

“You’re so Thomas. You’re so Thomas. You’re so Thomas.”

“Stop it, please, I can’t help being me.”

“Yes you can. You could stop being you. Then people might like you.”

“Now that is simply untrue.”

Creativity had appeared. He stood protectively between Thomas and Sky. He was soon joined by the other four.

“Creativity is correct,” Logic added. “Thomas can no more change who he is than a zebra can change its stripes.”

“Interesting metaphor there, Logic,” Anxiety quipped. “But he’s right. Thomas is supposed to be who he is. Even if he wanted to change, and he might need to think about that really carefully considering his current choices, he can’t change who he is at his core.”

“He is perfect and special just the way he is,” Morality finished, looking pleased with himself.

The crowd was silent for a moment, but then Sky started up again.

“Look, everyone. Thomas is so ‘Thomas’, that only his own sides are willing to stand up for him. What a loser.”

The crowd laughed and began to chant again. The sides backed up, unsure what to do. Thomas cowered behind them. Why did everyone think he was a loser?

“I don’t think he’s a loser.”

The new voice was older, stronger, confident, and yet strangely familiar. Thomas looked up, and saw a man behind Sky with purple hair. He was flanked by four more men, each with his same purple hair and face. They glared out at the crowd, and as they did so, Thomas noted that they looked and felt like he should know them.

“Now unless you all want to get in trouble for harassing Thomas here, I suggest you all get going.”

No one moved. The man’s face darkened.

“I said GO!”

At once the crowd began to run, but not before most of them disappeared in a swirl of mist as the hallway around them dissolved into nothing. The man came up to Thomas, crouching down to speak to him.

“Thomas, are you okay?”

Thomas shook his head.

“Are you having trouble breathing or focusing on what’s going on around you?”

He shook his head again.

“Alright, so you’re not having an attack, that’s good. Now, I want you to look at me.”

Thomas looked up into the man’s eyes, and saw his own looking back at him.

“Who are you?”

The man chuckled. “I’m you.”

Thomas was confused. “But…how can you be me? I’m me.”

“That’s true, you are you. I’m just your future self, here to show you that you don’t have to worry about what all those kids think of you.”

“But…but they don’t like me.”

“So? There are a lot of great people that other people don’t like. That doesn’t make them any less great.”

Thomas shrugged his shoulders. The older Thomas looked behind him at the other men and nodded. Each of them went to one of Thomas’ sides, guiding them away to talk in private. Thomas watched as one of them, in a blue shirt and khaki pants, guided Patton over to a bench to sit down.

“Hey there, kiddo, you doing alright?”

Morality gasped. “You really are future us, aren’t you guys?”

“Yep, and we’re here to help you.”

“Well, why would I need help? I’m the friendly father figure figment. I’ve got everything under control.”

“That. That is what you need help with. You need to realize that it’s okay for you to be angry or upset. That it’s okay for you to not always be happy.”

“But I am happy.”

“You’re happy, even though Thomas feels like he’s not worth anything right now? Doesn’t that make you sad or angry? Don’t you want him to feel better?”

“Well of course I do. I hate seeing him unhappy. But the best way to get him to be happy is to make him be happy. And in order to do that, I have to be happy. Always happy.”

Morality flashed a brilliant smile, but his older self could see how it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Morality, you can’t just force yourself to be happy all the time. It’ll only make things worse in the long run. You have to learn that it’s okay to feel bad sometimes. And you have to be honest with yourself and your family about it. Lying to yourself and others just to make them feel better would make them feel even worse than they already do.”

Morality’s head was reeling. His trying to make things better with forced happiness was actually making them worse. How could he have let this happen? He was supposed to take care of them. He felt the tears begin to build up in his eyes, and suddenly a strong set of arms was around him. He looked up at his older self’s face, and saw the same love he felt for his family reflected there. Overwhelmed by that fact, he buried his face in his counterpart’s shoulder, and wept as his older self held him close.

Nearby, Anxiety was getting distracted by Morality’s sobs as he tried to figure out who his own adult was, because he certainly couldn’t be him. He could tell just by looking at them that the older Thomas’ words were true, and that these were their future selves, but this one couldn’t possibly be him. He’d seen the way that he worked together with the others’ older selves. There was no way they could have accepted him after being as distant and dismissive as they had been since he showed up.

“So, are you going to tell me who you really are?”

“Dude, I’m you, from the future.”

“Yeah, I’m not buying it. There’s no way the others ever accepted me.”

“They will, eventually. They just have to realize how much you do for Thomas.”

“Oh yeah, and how do I do that?”

“Well, I’d rather not have done it the way I did.”

The older man suddenly became more morose. Anxiety was suddenly afraid of what had happened, but his curiosity won out.

“What did you do?”

“I ducked out.”

Anxiety was stunned. “You what?”

“I ducked out, cut myself off from Thomas. I thought that he’d be better off without me. But later I found out that without me he had no filter or drive. My anxiety was what pushed him to get things done and take care of himself. He needed me, and when the others realized that, they came to get me back. I was so touched by their admissions of needing me, that I was willing to trust them with my name.”

Anxiety stood still, taking in his older self’s story.

“And you know what? Things have been so much better since then. We’ve started learning to trust each other, and to work together. And you guys can do it too.”

“But how? They won’t even listen to me unless I get all scary on them.”

“Part of it is that they need to learn to listen to you more, but you also need to find the right balance so that they will listen to you without you having to scare them into submission.”

Anxiety considered all this. Then in a quiet voice, he asked, “Do you really think they can learn to accept me?”

Anxiety’s older self smiled kindly. “I think they can.”

It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Anxiety grabbed hold of his older self and held on tight. And after a moment, his counterpart returned the embrace.

On the far side of the dream space, Logic was going on about how the others needed to listen to him while his own counterpart listened to his ranting.

“We have already established that I am the most intelligent. It only makes sense that I would be the one to make the decisions. We cannot disregard the facts in favor of…ugh, ‘feelings’.”

“It is true that we are the most academically intelligent. But you have to understand that there are other forms of intelligence, forms that we are not always able to understand. And we need the others in order to find the correct balance.”

“Why would they be important? What have feelings ever done for us but make us upset.”

Logic crossed his arms. It was clear he had been just as affected by the kid’s words as the others, though he didn’t want to show it. His older self reached over to grasp his shoulder.

“We may not always like to display them, but we do have feelings. And we need to acknowledge them when we do. Because even if we can’t understand them, they are a part of who we are, and we need to accept that if we are to be the best Logic we can be for Thomas.”

Logic sighed, then nodded his head in understanding.

“And as I was saying before, you need to learn to work with the others. Each of you is necessary for Thomas to function properly. Only when all four of you are working together in tandem can you keep Thomas in balance.”

“It would be easier if they listened to me.”

“They would be more willing to listen to you if you were more willing to listen to them.”

Logic made to retort, but stopped before doing so. What his older self had said actually made sense. Perhaps it would be best to compromise with them on matters. Then they could find the solution that they could all agree on.

“You may be right,” he finally said, and his older self offered a small smile in recognition.

While the other three sides’ conversations were going rather well, Creativity was having a hard time getting his older self to understand what he was saying.

“I mean, obviously Thomas needs to put more effort into his creative endeavors. That’s where much of his talent lies. And since I’m Creativity, that means I should be the one to call the shots.”

“It’s not that simple,” his counterpart tried to explain, but he was quickly cut off again as the younger side continued to rant.

“I’m the one who creates all these ideas for him. I’m the one who helps him in his acting. I’m the one who has all of the creative solutions to his problems. He needs me more than any of the others.”

“Now hold on—“

“Honestly, I think it would be best if the others just got out of my way. I could take care of Thomas so much better by myself. I don’t need them. I don’t need anybody.”

“Roman Creativity Sanders!”

Creativity jumped at the use of his real name. His older self took a deep breath before continuing.

“Creativity, you can’t just get rid of the others. They’re a part of Thomas too. You all need each other to take care of him.”

Creativity pouted at that. “Even Anxiety?”

“Especially Anxiety. He’s more important than you know. I had to find that out the hard way.”

The older prince frowned for a moment before continuing.

“You’ll find that the others have a lot to offer, even for you. Because as important as you are, they are too. You all need each other, because none of you are perfect. Not even you, Creativity.”

Creativity kept pouting.

“But a prince rules his kingdom.”

“True, but he doesn’t rule it alone. A true prince recognizes when he needs help. And you’re going to need all the help you can get to take care of Thomas. You need them. And they need you.”

Creativity began to soften.

“There will be many quests and challenges in Thomas’ life, and while your skills will be needed, so will theirs. Only by acting as a team can you all prevail on Thomas’ behalf.”

Creativity sighed and slumped his shoulders. Then he turned to his older self.

“Alright, I’ll try, but I can’t promise that I’ll figure it out overnight.”

“That’s okay. No matter how long it takes, as long as you keep trying, and rely on the people around you to help, you’ll make it.”

“You promise?”

“I swear on my honor as a prince, you’ll be spectacular, if you work together.”

Creativity smiled, and bowed to the older prince, who bowed back in pride at his younger self.

As the other groups continued to talk, Thomas stood there with his older self, still unsure.

“So, why do you think no one likes you?”

“Because they said so.”

“All of them said so?”

“Well, it was just the one person. But it still hurt to hear.”

“I know. I know it hurts. But you can’t let one bad comment keep you from being yourself.”

“But what if who I am is someone nobody likes? What if they all reject me when they find out just how different I really am?”

Thomas dropped to the ground, curled up in fear. His older self sighed before sitting down next to him, rubbing circles into his back.

“Thomas, it’s true that there are going to be people who don’t like you. And quite possibly a lot of them. But you can’t let that stop you from being who you are. The people who really care about you will still love you no matter who you are. And the ones that don’t? They’re not even worth your time.”

Thomas sniffed and wiped his eyes.

“But what if I’m…too different. I mean, I’m not exactly…like the other guys.”

Thomas felt his chin being pulled up, and his eyes met his counterpart’s.

“Being different isn’t a sin, Thomas, it’s just who you are. And no one has the right to say that who you are is wrong. Because it’s exactly who you’re meant to be. Don’t let anyone ever take that away from you. Because you really are perfect and special just the way you are.”

The older man opened his arms in invitation, and the younger one latched onto him. They weren’t sure how long they stayed like that, but the older one eventually let go and stood up, the younger following suit as he wiped his eyes.

“Well, I hope this helped,” he concluded as the other groups began to come back together.

“I…I think it did,” Thomas admitted. He wiped his eyes and smiled.

“Well then, it’s almost time to get up.” He went over to join the other men as they prepared to leave.

“Wait, will we ever see you again?” Thomas called after them.

His counterpart turned around with a smile. “I’ll guess you’ll find out in the future. But if you ever need us, we’ll be there.”

“And don’t forget to be aware of how you feel,” the older Morality called.

“No matter what you feel or however long you feel it, it is always perfectly normal and perfectly fine,” the older Anxiety continued.

“And remember that we do our best when we work together,” the older Creativity added.

“You all need each other to keep Thomas in balance,” the older Logic pointed out.

“Just take care of yourself, Thomas,” his older self called as they faded away. “And always remember, the best thing to be is yourself, no matter what.”

The five adult men disappeared into their misty surroundings, and the dream scape faded away to the sounds of the morning birds.

Thomas awoke, feeling better than he had in a long time. For the first time in a long time, today didn’t seem so scary. Maybe it really could be a good day. And the four voices inside his head told him that they thought so too....

 

***********************

 

“Oh, I really hope things work out for them,” Patton gushed as they walked out of the portal.

“So do I, Pat,” Thomas agreed. “So do I.”

“How can we know that it worked?” Virgil asked.

“By checking to see what happened next, of course,” David called.

The five figures turned to look, and saw David obscured by images of what appeared to be Thomas at a fancy dress party. They moved over to get a closer look.

“Is this him?” Thomas asked, looking surprised but pleased.

David nodded his head.

“So what did happen?” Roman asked excitedly. David smiled at him as he explained.

“After that little pep talk, this Thomas started putting more effort into his creative outlets. He participated in a few creative writing contests, to mild success. And he became a key member of his school’s theatre troop. All before making it to high school, where he really blossomed.

“Just like in middle school, he was a key player for the high school’s drama troop, and worked both on and off the stage in their productions. He spent those years teaching himself the ins and outs of theatre. All that hard work finally led to a spectacular production of his own creation being put on at the end of his senior year.

“The show was highly lauded by reviewers, and both the production effort and acting earned our dear Thomas a full college scholarship to pursue acting and entertainment professionally. College was even more fruitful for him, as he already had an entire team working for him by the time he graduated. By the time he turned 28, he was a world-renowned actor and producer, with a number of award-winning shows under his belt.”

They marveled at that until Logan brought up another concern.

“What of our counterparts? What became of this Thomas’ sides?”

David hit a few switches on his control panel, and a group of four young men with Thomas’ face suddenly appeared around him, looking genuinely pleased as they talked and laughed with each other.

“Thanks to all your words of wisdom, these four quickly learned how to work together to help Thomas be the best him he could be. Sure, there were still disagreements, and even a few fights. But whenever things got really bad, one of them would always remind the others, just like you taught them to, that everything they did was to help Thomas, and that was best accomplished together. And that simple fact helped them to find the best course of action to take every time.”

The four looked pleased with themselves as their counterparts disappeared from the image. Just as they did so, the Thomas in the image, who had been shaking hands with whatever random strangers had come by, suddenly lit up as another young man approached him. The two embraced before sharing a kiss.

“Ooh, he’s cute,” Roman gushed.

“Oh, is that his boyfriend?” Patton asked giddily.

“Actually, that’s his fiancé.”

Thomas turned to David, looking shocked.

“Really? He already has a fiancé?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, he had the confidence to figure out he was gay and come out while he was still in high school. He had a number of boyfriends, including a short romance with a demiboy named Sky from his middle school drama club, but this one turned out to be a match made in heaven. They’re due to marry in a few months.”

The others watched the couple talking, noting the look of pure delight in this Thomas’ face. The Thomas in the room with them, however, was feeling that familiar pang of longing. To know that another Thomas had already figured it out and found someone to share his life with was filling him with envy, and he hated himself for it.

The myriad of emotions this brought up must have been reflected in his face, as David scooted closer to wrap his arm around Thomas’ shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay. Do you want to stop watching?”

Thomas shook his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Thomas paused before replying.

“It’s just that this Thomas has everything figured out. He has everything he’s ever wanted, everything I’ve ever wanted, and all so much easier and faster than me. I hate myself for feeling it, but I’m jealous.”

David suddenly turned him around to face him, gripping his shoulders firmly but gently. Thomas refused to meet his gaze, however, preferring to stare at his shirt instead. Which gave him enough peripheral sight to see the sides moving back to their phones to give them their privacy.

“Listen to me, Thomas. First off, don’t ever hate yourself for the feelings you have. We can’t exactly stop ourselves from having emotions, and we certainly can’t always control our thoughts. We have to learn to forgive ourselves when we have negative thoughts.”

Thomas nodded his head, but was still unable to look David in the eye.

“Second, this Thomas was only able to go so far so quickly because you helped him find that confidence inside himself. If anyone had done that for you, you could have easily ended up just as successful as he is at this point. And you would always thank that person for believing in you, and would credit your success to their kindness. I’m sure this Thomas, if he understood who you really were, would do the same.”

“I guess,” he muttered, shuffling his feet. Though the slight blush in his cheeks told David he did still feel a little proud of himself for that.

“And third, no matter how much you wish things could have gone differently for you, everything that’s ever happened to you happened for a reason. Every turn in your path, every change in direction, every unexpected doorway or dead end, all led you to where you are now. Which is exactly where you need to be. This is just your path to your future. And I promise, it’ll be worth it when you get there.”

Thomas finally looked up. David was beaming with encouragement, and Thomas couldn’t help but wrap his arms around him in gratitude. He felt David hug him back as he cried grateful tears into his chest.

After a few minutes, he pulled away and wiped his eyes off on his sleeve. David gave him one last smile and pat on the shoulder before turning back to his station to shut off the image.

Thomas returned to his own station, but his mind was on other matters. He still felt that surge of envy for his alternate self, but he reminded himself that he had his own great accomplishments to be proud of. And no matter what the future held, he was sure it was going to be spectacular.


	8. Celebrating Self-Worth (or) The Love of a Fandom

Inspired by Everything by Everyone

 

“Whelp, I think that’s enough for one day. There’s only a few more minutes before I need to be up anyway, so I’m gonna go ahead and call it.”

David flipped the switch on his station, and the low hum of the receivers up top faded out. The guys stretched as they picked themselves up from their desks, looking ready to head out.

“You know, I think we did a fantastic job today,” Roman gushed. “We helped so many of our alternate selves. I can’t help but think we made a real difference in their lives.”

“You really think what we did today is going to really make a difference?” Patton asked.

“I would not doubt it,” Logan replied. “We already have definitive proof of at least a few of our encounters’ successes. It would not be wrong to assume the others turned out positively as well.”

Virgil merely grunted. Something seemed off about him. David looked him over.

“Virgil, is everything alright?”

He looked up at David, then glanced over at Thomas, still seated at his desk.

“Thomas, you okay?”

Thomas sighed before responding. “I’m just wondering if what we’re doing here is really making a difference. If what we’re doing here is really going to make things better in the long run.”

“Thomas, you’ve already made a huge difference in so many lives today. You can’t expect to change the world in just one day, and yet you’ve already made a huge difference in a number of your counterparts’ lives.”

Thomas sighed. “It’s just, I always do my best to help people. But even if it looks like I’m helping, I can’t help but wonder if what I’m doing really does make a difference.”

David slowly walked over to him. He reached down and lifted Thomas’ chin so he could look into his eyes.

“Thomas, you do help. You are a beacon. A shining light in a dark cosmos. Long before I came along, you were already doing so much good back home. And because of where our universe is in the cosmic hierarchy, that good has trickled down throughout reality. Just like our world is a reflection of the greater worlds above us, those worlds below us reflect the light we create in our own.

“That’s why there are so many different versions of you and your sides. You have been spreading so much light and joy and positive energy that it’s been filtering out throughout all of reality.”

“But then why do they still need help? If I’m really doing so much to spread light and positivity throughout the worlds, why do bad things still happen?”

“Because our reality is flawed. It’s broken and corrupted by darkness. Truth be told, there’s only one perfect world in all the cosmos, and the only way to get to it is to pass through the veil of death. And even that’s not a guarantee that you’ll get there.

“But there is still so much light and love here in the worlds below.”

Thomas looked down, unconvinced. David sighed, then perked up with an idea.

“Come here,” he said, pulling Thomas up by the hand. “Let me show you something.”

He took Thomas over to his station. The sides came over as well. He booted up his interface and tapped in a series of symbols. Soon enough, an image appeared.

“We saw or heard from a lot of worlds where you and your sides needed help. And there are probably plenty more that we haven’t seen yet. Worlds where they’re downtrodden, broken, in pain. But there are still so many worlds where they’ve already solved their problems. And that’s because of the positive energy you’ve spread throughout the cosmos.

“I mean, look at this world.”

Thomas looked, and saw his sides cuddled together in the mindscape commons.

“In this world, your mood affects your sides’ appearance. In particular, whenever your anxiety becomes particularly heightened, Virgil is stretched and transformed into a monstrous entity. And yet, your other sides haven’t rejected him. They understand that neither you nor he have any control over the transformation. They simply remind him that he can always trust them to be there when it becomes too much for him to handle alone, and even if it’s not.”

The four sides watched with rapt attention, and scooted closer together as they observed. Thomas couldn’t help but wonder at the sight, seeing the love they were displaying for their misshapen fellow side.

“They accept him for who he is, regardless of who he is or what he sometimes becomes. You taught us that.”

He tapped the buttons again, and a new image appeared, showing the four sides around a dinner table in the mindscape kitchen.

“And in this world, Virgil felt alone and rejected because the other three were in a relationship together. A relationship he wished he could be a part of, but was too anxious to believe he deserved to be in. What he didn’t realize was that they loved him too, and wanted him to be part of their relationship.

“But they had to remember that he is Anxiety, and that he doesn’t always interpret messages the same way they do. So rather than try to change who he was, they had to change the way they explained how they felt to him. That way he could understand, and he did. He was able to be in a relationship with the people he loved. And he did so because he was willing to trust them, and they were willing to be understanding of his needs.

“You helped us realize that love is love, no matter its form. And that every healthy relationship requires trust and understanding. You may not have done it directly, but everything you put out teaches us about the best way to conduct ourselves.”

Thomas could feel his cheeks burning, and he did his best to ignore the proud smiles the sides were directing at him. David pretended not to notice as he pulled up yet another image.

“This is a world where you still have the sides, but you live in a medieval kingdom ruled by a terrible witch. You decided to stand up to her and defeat her by destroying the source of her power. Granted, there were a few bumps in the road, including figuring out the real source of her power, not to mention the curse that caused you to disappear and three of your sides to be turned into creatures.

“But Virgil, with the transformed sides’ help, still did everything he could to finish your quest. To save you, the other sides, and the rest of the kingdom. And you managed to bring peace and prosperity to that world. And you did it by inspiring courage and self-acceptance in the part of you that was most afraid and most self-deprecating.”

David shut off the image and turned to Thomas.

“You inspired all of that. Thomas, in almost every major video you create, you talk about love and understanding and acceptance and compassion. You are a light. And it’s not just through the videos. Just by living your life, you shine as an example to us all on how best to live our lives. You’ve even done that for me.”

David was starting to choke up, and Thomas and the sides weren’t too far behind.

“Thomas, do you remember what I was like when I first came to your doorstep? I was so reserved and closed off, so unwilling to be open and vulnerable with anyone. To be truthful about how I was feeling. And you made me realize that it was okay to not have everything figured out. That it was okay to keep searching and trying to find myself. And you made it seem okay for me to seek out others to help me with that.

“Thomas, you have done more for me in the last few months than anyone has ever done in all the long years that I have traveled the cosmos. You have…inspired me. You have guided me. You have helped me to see the truth. And most importantly you’ve loved me exactly as I am, flaws and all. Loved me so strongly that I still can’t comprehend it.

“You have poured yourself out into the world around you. Did you really think that the cosmos wouldn’t recognize that and honor you in this way? All of this, this center, all of it was because of you. You were the one who created this way to help people where before we couldn’t interfere.

“Yes, Patton is the one who actually had the idea, but he wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you. He is a reflection of your truest self, and thus it’s because of you that this place exists. It’s because of you that this new light can shine across reality, spreading hope through a dark cosmos.

“It’s true that you’re not the only one who has spread light and hope throughout the cosmos. But never think that just because you’re not the only one doesn’t make the light you share any less special.

“You are a good man. And you inspire others to do the same, to be good people, and to be lights in a dark world. You deserve every bit of credit and praise and honor for what you have done. And I am honored that I can be a small part of that light that you are pouring out into the worlds.

“I may be the one with a reputation as a cosmic guardian, but you are the one who deserves to be recognized for all that you’ve done. And I hope that if there is one thing that you’ll always remember, it's this: that you are worth it. That we are all worth it. You remind us of that, and I hope you remember that about yourself as well.”

David pulled him in for a hug.

“Thank you Thomas. Thank you for being…’Thomas’.”

Thomas sobbed into David’s shoulder, but it was coupled with a snort of laughter.

“Ah, I saw what you did there.”

“Well, you deserve it.”

The two were soon joined by the sides, and the group stayed that way for what seemed like a long time. Then suddenly an alarm started going off, and David broke from the group to check his watch.

“Oh, shoot, I’m going to be late.”

“What?”

“I should have been up ten minutes ago. We’ve got to get going. I’ve got church, and you’ve got video stuff to take care of.”

Thomas huffed as he and the sides followed David out of the building. “You are going to turn me into a morning person at this rate.”

“Hopefully,” David said. “It would make it a lot easier on my sleep schedule if you were, let me tell you.”

“It’s true,” Logan confirmed. “A more standard sleep cycle would allow for healthier living.”

“And it usually makes us happier to get a proper bit of sleep, kiddo,” Patton added.

“Ah, but where is the fun in sleeping when there are grand social gatherings to attend to,” Roman retorted.

“Or the chance to just stay up all night reading conspiracy theories online,” Virgil countered.

“Well, it’s important to find the right balance,” David concluded.

“Ugh, fine, but can’t we find that balance another morning?”

David simply chuckled as he and Thomas snapped their fingers, and the six returned home with a flash of blue and purple light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References by Universe:  
> -"Inflated Ego and Heightened Anxiety" by @not-so-innocent-bi-sander  
> -"Superfluous" by @random-snippets  
> -"Of Trying and Towers" by parsnipit


	9. An Author's Note (or) The Story Behind the "Center"

Well guys, the month of August has come and gone, and with it the First Sanders Sides Big Bang has come to an end.

This truly was an amazing experience, and in addition to being part of this incredible event, I got to meet so many new people and make a lot of new friendships that I truly hope will continue for years to come.  I really hope that we will do this again next year.  (I already have ideas for what my story next year will be.  Nothing's substantial, but if all goes as planned, it's going to be very "Cliché".)

But before we truly call this all said and done, I've gotten a number of people asking how I came up with and executed this idea.  And I promised them I'd explain it at the end of the month.  So, here we go.

To be honest, the exact time I came up with this idea has been lost to my memories.  I do remember it was sometime around when "Insanity Sides" and "Paints" (the first two stories to be utilized for mine) were originally being released.  And I remember how I originally envisioned it would work.

So I'd been using my character David the Traveler in stories for a long time (what you've seen published is just the tip of the iceberg of recent material I've created for him, which is merely one chip off of the massive ice sheet of material I've been coming up with for years).  But it wasn't until I came up with the idea to have his story collide with Thomas that I really started exploring some of the long term concepts of being able to travel the multiverse.  So many of the rules and concepts and events which had merely been vague ideas in my head coalesced into fully fledged storylines thanks to Thomas' influences on my writing.  And thus I began to actually share it, in the form of my WIP _Changing Realities_.

But while I was working on a new story myself, I also became well aware of the many works of fiction being produced by my fellow fanders.  So much incredible content, of all manner of styles and forms and lengths.  Our fanderdom is probably one of the most creatively talented I've ever been a part of.

But one thing I noticed very quickly was just how much of that content seemed...negatively inclined.  There were just so many stories that were sad or depressing and that didn't have a happy ending.  I can handle sad.  I can handle depressing.  I can handle heart-wrenching.  But I have a very hard time accepting that a story can't have at least a somewhat positive ending.  Surely there must be some good that can still be accounted for in all this sorrow.  But no, there wasn't.

And then I got to thinking, what if it's because these stories are like the worlds my character travels to, to make things better?  What if they just need someone to show them how they can get to their happy endings?  And thus was the idea conceived.

I knew I had to be careful about how to make this work.  I knew I'd need to get an author's explicit permission to use their story for the basis of my own, so I made it a rule to not use any story that the author did not give explicit permission for me to use.  I also knew for the sake of my main story that my character couldn't have traveled to these worlds and met these Thomases and Sides before meeting his Thomas and Sides, as he has an eidetic memory and would have remembered them from the alternate worlds.  So he would have had to start intervening after meeting them.  But I also knew that Thomas and the Sides wouldn't be so keen to have him randomly interfering in their alternate selves' lives willy nilly.  Now it was around this time that I saw a lot of Tumblr posts going around with numbers for crisis hotlines and call centers.  And after seeing several of them, it hit me:  a call center for Sanders Sides, where you could ask for advice on whatever was troubling you.  Boom, concrete idea completed.

The next step was to come up with the stories that I could use to make this idea work.  That's when I started reading "Insanity Sides" by Vampirtulpe.  I can't handle horror movies or video games, but for some reason horror in text form isn't as bad.  Probably because my imagination doesn't let me conjure horrible images of horrible things that I haven't actually seen in a visual medium.  So that's why I was able to read it without being too overwhelmed.  (Though I will admit, some of the material was dark enough to make me almost physically ill.  Seriously, if you go and read it, be sure to really heed those trigger warnings.)  After a number of conversations about some of the background information concerning the story, I realized that it would make for a perfect intro chapter for this concept.  After discussing it with Vampirtulpe, she agreed to let me use it for my story.

The second story to become part of the collection was "Paints" by mystrangedarkson.  After reading it, I immediately knew it would make a great chapter for this story.  I spoke with the author and they agreed to let me borrow it.  It wasn't until long after that they went back and wrote their own continuation of the story.  But we talked it out and they said I could still do my thing with it.  So that's why I brought in the concept of twinning for that chapter.

Twinning is an idea I've used since the early days of David's story.  It basically explained how there could be pure versions of the worlds we know when he was going around and visiting everything.  Twinning allowed him to visit, intermingle, and even change worlds without permanently altering the original canon.  Though the part about it causing him to be a little muddled in the head was just added for the humor.

It was shortly after this that I heard about the Big Bang and decided to participate.  After considering various options for what to use for my story for the Bang, I settled on this one, and immediately set about creating the parameters needed for a successful self-contained version of this story.  I would need the intro chapter, to explain the origin of the center, at least one chapter for each of the sides and Thomas, one chapter where all of them are involved, and then a summation chapter to finish it out that I would use to talk about the stories I loved from this fandom.

Because that was the big reason that I chose this idea for the story.  _Changing Realities_ may be my love letter to Thomas for everything he's done to help me grow and change and move forward with my life, but this story is my love letter to the fanderdom for everything they've done to make me feel welcomed and included and loved.  There are so many amazing and talented people in this fandom, with incredible gifts of art and story, and I wanted to show this fandom how much it's come to mean to me.

I didn't get to include as many stories as I wanted to in that last chapter, and the rest of the stories that I wrote for this didn't turn out as great as I had hoped.  But then, this year has not been the best for my mental health.  Between the whirlwind of unexpected changes and tragedies, not to mention my dad...

Let's just say these last few months didn't turn out the way I thought they would.

But I did still manage to get this story out on time (barely).  That being said, I didn't have time to get someone to beta read it for me.  I've since gone through and fixed some things that were messed up or that didn't quite make sense, so they should be better now.  But if any of you do see something that looks wrong or doesn't make sense, do let me know so I can take a look at it.

But getting back on topic, the reason I picked this story for my entry was to show how much I love this fandom, and the people in it.  So now that it's come to an end, I'd like to do just that.

To the friends I've made through association with this event, and this fandom in general, I thank you for your kindness, your comradery, your support, and your care.  You have been there for me through so many dark and conflicting times.  You were there when I finally came out to everyone.  You were there when I lost my dad.  You were there when I got two solos at church.  You were there when it was officially announced that my brother and sister-in-law would get to adopt their two foster boys, my little boogers.  You've been here for me through thick and thin.  And I thank God every day that I found you all.  You have been a blessing in my life, and I hope that in some small way I can be a blessing in all of yours.

To the six authors who graciously allowed me to borrow their stories for this, I thank you for giving me this chance.  I knew that no matter how much I might want to write this story the way it turned out, I could never do that without stories to base it on.  All of you let me have this opportunity, and I am humbled that you would allow me to borrow just a small piece of your brilliance to help this story shine.  You guys truly are the best.

Well, I believe that wraps up everything.  Except for one last thing.

You see, when I first conceived this idea, I figured it would be like the original plan for Disney's _Fantasia_.  The idea was that this would be an ongoing story.  That every so often I would add new chapters to the story.  And if that's an idea that entices you, I wouldn't be against returning to that idea.  But that's entirely up to you guys.  As of right now, this story is essentially done.  I would certainly love to come back and revisit it in the future, but for now I'm going to release it into the world as is.

To everyone who made it this far, thank you for reading my story.  I try to remind myself that fanfiction is ultimately written for the benefit of the author, but it does help to know that there are people out there who appreciate what I've done.  So to everyone who's left a comment, everyone who has kudo-ed, everyone who stopped in to take a look, thank you.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

And until we meet again, I wish you all happy days and peaceful nights.  And that help will always be given in this fandom to those who ask for it.

Until our next adventure, my friends.

David TT


End file.
